German economy has overcome doldrums: Bundesbank

The German economy, Europe's biggest, has managed to shrug off faster than expected the period of weakness it experienced last year, the German central bank or Bundesbank said on Monday.

"The German economy appears to have overcome the phase of weakness that emerged last spring more quickly than many people expected," the Bundesbank wrote in its latest monthly report.

Among the positive factors contributing to this were the "markedly positive consumer climate -- on the back of the favourable employment and income outlook -- and falling energy prices," the report said.

Business confidence had also improved in December, the Bundesbank said, pointing to the increased industrial output in October and November and a rise in factory orders.

After notching up growth of 0.8 percent in the first quarter of 2014, German gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.1 percent in the second quarter and then expanded by a meagre 0.1 percent in the third quarter.

Fourth-quarter GDP data are not scheduled to be released until mid-February.