Germany to announce bold new package

Chancellor Angela Merkel said the German government will announce a "bold" package of measures to bolster the economy amid a global slowdown.

"We will present a program that is targeted, bold and sustainable," Merkel said yesterday in a speech in Berlin to members of the BGA wholesalers and exporters group, without giving details or a figure for the value of the package. The euro rose the most against the dollar in five weeks after Merkel's speech.

The chancellor's comments are her first on the need for steps to bolster the wider economy after the government fast- tracked a 500 billion-euro bank-rescue plan through parliament Oct 17. The government slashed its forecast for economic growth in 2009, an election year, to just 0.2 percent this month.