Economic momentum in Germany seems to have picked up noticeably in the winter months, the Bundesbank central bank has written in its monthly report.
"The underlying dynamics of the German economy are likely to have increased in the winter months," the Bundesbank said.
"An indication of this is the continued improvement in the assessment of both situation and outlook of companies and private households," the report, released on Monday, said.
But the pick-up would likely only be reflected in gross domestic product (GDP) growth after the turn of the year, it continued.
The main factors behind the acceleration were continued robust domestic demand and increased impulses from foreign demand, the Bundesbank wrote.
Last week, official GDP data showed that German growth picked up fractionally at the end of last year, propelled by buoyant exports and increased investment.
GDP grew by 0.4 per cent in the period from October to December, slightly faster than analysts' expectations, and was up from growth of 0.3 per cent in the preceding three months, the federal statistics office Destatis said.
