Germany will likely avoid a contraction this year and is set to eke out growth of 0.2%, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s advisers predicted, though they warned that the situation remains tense and inflation will continue to weigh on Europe’s biggest economy. In their latest update, Scholz’s independent Council of Economic Experts said they expect expansion to accelerate to 1.3% next year, even as rising interest rates squeeze households and companies and crimp investment. They had predicted in November that the economy would shrink by 0.2% this year. “The loss of purchasing power due to inflation, less favorable financing ... (full story)