Largely thanks to the strong demands from outside Europe, German exports unexpectedly expanded 1.6 percent month-on-month in February, official data showed Tuesday, giving new hope that the country may be shielded from recession amid the lasting eurozone debt crisis.

The Wiesbaden-based Federal Statistical Office said that Germany exported 91.3 billion euros (119.6 billion U.S. dollars) worth of commodities and services in February, rising 1.6 percent compared with previous month and 8.6 percent on a yearly basis.

Meanwhile, the country's imports reached 77.4 billion euros, posting a 3.9-percent monthly increase and leaving the seasonally-adjusted trade surplus to 13.6 billion euros, down from 15.1 billion euros in January.

After jumping 3.4 percent in January, German exports have boosted for two months in a row, surprising analysts' expectation that the figure would dip in February.

Data showed that the main driver for the growth is from non-European markets, to which the country's exports have surged 13.4 percent. To the debt-crisis-hit eurozone nations, exports were up a much weaker 3.3 percent, and to non-eurozone European countries, exports rose 9.7 percent.

Markets have worried that the German economy, Europe's strongest, would finally fall into recession as the long-lasting debt crisis has dragged down the growth pace of the eurozone.

Besides Germany's 0.2-percent contraction in the fourth quarter of 2011, a string of poor figures released last week, including factory orders, purchasing managers index and industrial output, have deepened the fears.

However, experts said that the latest trade data, plus record low unemployment and strong domestic market, have left some hope that Germany would post a modest growth, or stagnation in the first quarter, making itself stay away from the word "recession", which is defined by two consecutive quarters of economic decline.

The German government had forecast the country would experience a relatively difficult time in the first six months of 2012, and then return to the growth track in the second half. The overall output growth would stand at 0.7 percent this year. (1 euro = 1.30 U.S. dollars)