On Monday, the German federal statistics office, Destatis, reported that the German GDP fell 0.1% on the third quarter compared to the previous three months, off higher interest rates and weaker purchasing power.

The report asserted that as high inflation is continuing to erode the purchasing power of consumers, household consumption is falling.

Destatis revised the second quarter GDP figures upward, however, to reflect a 0.1% expansion, as opposed to stagnation. At the same time the first quarter figure was revised from its previous contraction, which had signaled the onset of a recession, to stagnation.

Germany has been experiencing difficulties in its manufacturing sector due to elevated energy costs in the nation. In the first quarter of the year it entered a technical recession when GDP growth was revised from 0 to -0.3%. A technical recession occurs when an economy experiences two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.

Recently the International Monetary Fund published a report which predicted that most of the world’s biggest economies would experience growth this year with the exception of Germany. Weakening global trade, as well as the nation’s sky-high energy prices were cited by the IMF as the cause of Germany’s poor economic outlook.

Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing had said last month that unless the government of Germany addressed the structural issues within its economy immediately, the economy of Germany could once again end up being called the “Sick Man of Europe.”