The German economy, Europe's biggest, grew by 0.4 percent in the second quarter of 2015, fractionally faster than in the preceding three months, but slightly short of analyst expectations, official data showed on Friday.

German gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 0.4 percent in the period from April to June, up from 0.3 percent in the first quarter, the federal statistics office Destatis said in a flash estimate. Analysts had been projecting marginally stronger growth of 0.5 percent for the second quarter.