The Munich-based Ifo Institute has slashed its 2019 growth forecast for Germany from 1.1 to 0.6%. The revision comes after a two-month contraction in German manufacturing to start off the year. In February, Germany’s manufacturing PMI fell to a 74-month low of 47.6. IHS Markit’s PMI for the service industry on the other hand showed strength over the same period, hitting a five-month high of 55.1.

This resilience in German services helped the economy narrowly avoid a contraction over the fourth quarter. The economy registered zero growth over the final three months of 2018, and just 1.5% over the year overall – its slowest annual rate of expansion since 2013.