Germany, the engine of what little growth the eurozone can muster amid contraction in many countries, will see its economy barely expand next year, the country's central bank said on Friday, as it became the latest heavyweight European public institution to revise down its forecasts. Europe's largest economy is being affected by the problems in the rest of the eurozone and the slowing world economy, the Bundesbank said, as it cut its gross domestic product forecast from 1.6 per cent to 0.4 per cent. "Germany, given its high degree of openness and specialisation, cannot prosper alone," the bank said in its monthly report. It has a particular interest in the welfare of its partners. The bank added, however, that it expected the country to "return to its growth path soon" and said its forecast was subject to a high degree of uncertainty. Nevertheless, the new forecast leaves the Bundesbank decidedly more gloomy than many private sector economists, even if the difference is largely based on how soon they believe the wider eurozone and global economies will improve in 2013, driving an improvement in exports for Germany. Commerzbank, which talks of a "slumbering boom" in Germany and believes the European Central Bank's interest rates are far too low for the country, expects German GDP to grow 2.5 per cent next year. UniCredit is forecasting 1.1 per cent, and Goldman Sachs 0.8 per cent growth. The Bundesbank's gloomy growth forecasts follows the official downgrade this week to UK economic prospects and Thursday's sharp cut in the economic outlook for the eurozone by the ECB. The imperfect art of economic forecasting is not being made any easier by a range of contradictory signals. In Germany, most economists expect to see contraction in the fourth quarter, and industrial orders and output have fallen. But factory orders rebounded strongly in October, beating expectations. There has also been an improvement in business expectations recorded in surveys. As a consequence of lower growth, the Bundesbank is also forecasting lower inflation - the single most important indicator in German popular consciousness. It said inflation would fall from 2.1 per cent this year to 1.5 per cent next year. Despite record eurozone unemployment, Germany is also better off in this respect than other countries. The Bundesbank forecast a slight rise in unemployment to 7.2 per cent next year followed by a drop back to 7 per cent in 2014.