Frankfurt  - After a strong start to the year, German economic growth has lost momentum in recent months, the nation's central bank said in its monthly report released Monday.

While the Bundesbank stepped back from predicting a second-quarter growth rate, the Frankfurt-based bank said it expected a slumping building sector as well as weak private consumption and a fall in exports to have undercut the performance of Europe's biggest economy.

The German economy grew by a quarter-on-quarter 1.5 per cent during the first three months of 2008, which was its fastest expansion rate in a dozen years. However, since then the euro has climbed to an all-time of more than 1.60 dollars and inflationary pressures have continued to grow on the back of high oil and food prices.

Statistics released this month showed German exports slumped by a seasonally adjusted 3.2 per cent month-on-month in May, the biggest fall in about four years. Economists had expected a 0.5 per cent gain.

The most pessimistic forecasts are for German economic growth to slow to 0.7 per cent during the three months to the end of June. The second-quarter growth data is to be released next month. (dpa)