German economy slowed in 2018 amid signs of global downturn

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Germany's economic growth eased to 1.5 percent last year amid signs of a slowdown in Europe and the wider global economy.

The growth figure announced Thursday by the government statistics agency was down from 2.2 percent in 2017.

German output fell in the third quarter by 0.2 percent, but the dip was attributed to temporary factors such as bottlenecks registering cars under new emissions testing rules.

Worsening economic data had raised fears that Germany may have turned in a subpar performance in the fourth quarter, for which figures will be reported Feb. 14. The statistics agency said there were "signs of a slight recovery" in the fourth quarter compared with the third.

It was still the ninth straight year of annual economic growth in Germany.