"Germany's Economy Grew 3 Percent In 2011"

DAVID GREENE, BYLINE: In NPR's business news, we're tracking Europe's efforts to avoid recession.

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GREENE: If Europe's economy should slide further, the European debt crisis would only get worse, and it could be hard to contain the effects on the United States. So it's a somewhat hopeful sign that the strongest economy in Europe grew in 2011. A new report says Germany's economy grew by 3 percent. Not bad, given all the European turmoil.

The downside is, the same report shows the German economy shrinking a bit at the very end of last year. And the wider European debt crisis is still far from being resolved.