BERLIN, March 19 (Reuters) - The German economy will contract by over four percent this year, the president of Germany's Ifo Institute said on Thursday.
Hans-Werner Sinn said the global economic slowdown had weighed so heavily on German orders and exports that his institute would be revising its previous forecast made at the end of last year.
"It all means that the (2009) growth forecasts which were already pessimistic recently all have to be revised," he told reporters.
"The world economy will fall by more than 1.5 percent, the U.S. will contract by more than 2 percent, the EU more than 3 percent and Germany more than 4 percent. We do not have exact forecasts yet," he added. (Reporting by Brian Rohan; Editing by Ron Askew)