Germany's economy grew at a 2 percent rate in the

So much for Krugman's predictions about Germany and their austerity policy. From the Financial Times:

The German economy grew five times faster than expected in the first quarter of the year, jumping 0.5 per cent. . . . The year on year increase was 1.7 per cent, beating expectations of a 0.8 per cent jump, and the German statistics office said growth was supported by an increase in net trade as exports to outside the eurozone gained. But this is still more a tale of divergence than cheer as French GDP came in flat and the Netherlands GDP fell 0.2 per cent as the country remained in technical recession. And while German’s performance could be the basis for a beat (with Austria providing some more support after it found 0.2 per cent growth in the first quarter), eurozone GDP is predicted to fall 0.2 per cent with the data due later this morning. . . .