BERLIN, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Germany narrowly avoided recession in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022 as the gross domestic product (GDP) climbed by 0.2 percent compared to the previous quarter, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Wednesday.

       "Despite difficult framework conditions in the global economy, the German economy started 2022 with a slight growth," Destatis President Georg Thiel commented.

       Compared to pre-COVID-19 crisis levels, however, the German economy had not fully recovered yet as GDP was still 0.9 percent lower than in the fourth quarter of 2019.

       The pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have "intensified existing distortions, including interruptions in supply chains and rising prices," Thiel added.

       Supply chain bottlenecks and energy price hikes due to the conflict would continue to weigh on the economy in addition to the pandemic, Germany's state-owned development bank KfW said on Wednesday.

       After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the bank halved its real growth forecast for Germany to 1.6 percent for 2022. It expects moderate 1.2 percent growth in 2023.