Wiesbaden, Germany - German exports in December slumped a sharp 7.7 per cent in year-on-year terms to 67.4 billion euros (87 billion dollars) in value, federal statisticians said Monday in Wiesbaden.

The cost of Germany's imports declined 3.3 per cent to 60.4 billion euros.

The export decline continues a trend that was most noticeable with a November slump of 11.8 per cent, the worst fall in the year-on-year data for the past 15 years in Europe's biggest economy.

In 2008 as a whole, Germany managed an increase by 2.8 per cent in total exports to 992.7 billion euros, thanks to a strong first-half performance before the US financial crisis developed into a more generalized world trade crisis.

Full year imports totalled 814.5 billion euros, up 5.8 per cent. (dpa)