Berlin  - Germany's economic recovery is gaining ground with analysts predicting data to be released Friday will show Europe's biggest economy grew by 0.8 per cent during the third quarter.

This comes after the nation emerged more swiftly than expected from recession to report a 0.3-per-cent expansion rate in the three months to the end of June.

Nevertheless, some analysts believe that a recent raft of strong German economic data means that the third-quarter growth rate could come in even higher when details are released Friday by the country's statistics office.

But despite Germany's forecast solid economic performance during the third quarter, economists predict that the country's economy will have shrunk by 4.8-per-cent when the three months to the end of September are compared with the same period in 2008.

The German economy slumped by 5.9 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter, underscoring the impact of the deepest recession in more than six decades. (dpa)