WASHINGTON Thu Oct 9, 2014 10:50am

German  Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Thursday the euro zone's weak growth could not be fixed by more fiscal stimulus and dismissed the prospect of recession for Europe's biggest .

"We don't have a recession in , we have a weakening of growth," he said at a Bertelsmann Foundation event on the sidelines of World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings.

Figures earlier on Thursday showed German exports plunged in August by their largest amount since the height of the financial crisis, following steep drops in industrial orders and output data earlier in the week.

Schaeuble said "writing checks" was no way for the  to boost growth, and urged  and  to do more in the way of structural reforms.