BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany’s leading economic institutes expect the German economy to grow by just 0.2 percent next year, weekly magazine Der Spiegel said on Saturday.

The institutes’ latest forecasts are due to be published on Tuesday, one day before the government is also expected to cut its growth prediction for 2009 to below 0.5 percent.
Concerns about the outlook for Germany have increased as global turmoil in the financial sector threatens to spill over into other sectors of the economy.
The think tanks, which compile their report in cooperation with leading research institutes from Austria and Switzerland, have also predicted that unemployment will rise in 2009, the magazine said, without providing sources.
The government has forecast the economy will expand by 1.7 percent in 2008, and had hitherto seen growth of 1.2 percent for next year, when Chancellor Angela Merkel is seeking re-election.