The German economy will be able to counteract a possible economic crisis, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said today in an interview with the public broadcaster ARD, quoted by Reuters.

The minister, however, added that he did not expect a crisis as severe as the one that had occurred in 2008-2009.

"We are well prepared because we have decent financial resources so if there is an economic crisis, we can take countermeasures but at the moment we're only seeing slower growth," he said.

In his words, if a crisis as serious as the one in 2008-2009 were to come, Germany would "be able to do everything that is necessary". Scholz , however, said he did not expect such a scenario, given forecasts suggesting an improvement in the economic situation, albeit slower than expected, BTA reported.

A number of economists have predicted that the German economy will fall into recession in the third quarter of this year, after reporting a contraction in the second quarter. Later today, the country's leading economic institutions are expected to lower their growth forecasts for the current and next year, sources said.