Workers are accepting pay cuts to keep their jobs[Photo]

　　Germany’s six top economic institutes have cut their economic growth forecasts for this year in half.

　　They are now predicting the German economy will grow by just 0.7%, compared with their earlier predictions of 1.5%.

　　Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has said the new forecasts are "not good".

　　Exports are being curbed by the strong euro, oil prices are hurting business and domestic demand remains stubbornly slack , the six think tanks said.

　　Weak growth is likely to intensify the problems facing Chancellor Schroeder’s centre-left government as it battles to prune state spending at a time of record post-war unemployment.

　　Five million Germans were out of work last month, giving a jobless rate of 12%, compared with about 5% in the UK and the US.

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