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By Gernot Heller
BERLIN, Nov 13 (Reuters) - The German economy is unlikely to perform much better in the final three months of 2008 after contracting and falling into recession in the third quarter, Deputy Economy Minister Walther Otremba said on Thursday.
"Indicators suggest the negative (growth) will hardly change in the fourth quarter," Otremba told Reuters, adding that recent financial turmoil was not yet reflected in third quarter economic growth figures.
German gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.5 percent in the July-September period, data showed on Thursday, putting Germany in recession for the first time in five years [ID:nLD496344].
"We are going to have to face up to a very difficult and long-lasting economic crisis," Otremba said.
Otremba said it was hard to tell when things would start to improve again for Europe's largest economy.
"What's decisive is liquidity on financial markets. If we can get back to safe ground, I'm optimistic that we can shield the real economy from severe distortions," he said.
Otremba called on German consumers not to become too pessimistic over the current financial climate.
"Fear would certainly be the wrong advice in this situation," he said. "The German government is doing everything to steer the economy back into positive territory."
Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has unveiled an economic stimulus package that it hopes could generate investments and contracts of up to 50 billion euros ($63.12 billion).
"Savings in Germany are already very high, so there is no need for extra reserve funds," he said, calling on Germans to continue to spend money "without becoming careless".
(Reporting by Gernot Heller, writing by Paul Carrel and Kerstin Gehmlich; Editing by Victoria Main)