BERLIN (AP) The German government is raising its forecast for the country's economic growth in 2014 to 1.7 percent and says there should be a healthy increase in exports.
Wednesday's forecast was just above the 1.6 percent growth that the government predicted in April. It left this year's growth outlook unchanged at 0.5 percent.
It's predicting a pickup in exports, a traditional strength of Europe's biggest economy, after they increased only sluggishly this year. The forecast is for exports to grow 0.3 percent in 2013 and 3.8 percent next year.
Faster economic growth should boost the already-healthy labor market. The government says the number of people in work should increase next year to 42 million from 41.8 million this year, with some 2.9 million unemployed.
