German Economy

German economy sees weakest growth since 2013

The German economy grew by 0.6% last year, according to official figures released by Destatis, its weakest performance since 2013. The German statistics office said growth was driven mainly by household spending.

Business investment in machinery and equipment was weaker. Exports did grow – but more slowly than in previous years.

Industrial production, excluding construction, fell by 0.5% with weak growth in the third quarter and a small decline in economic activity in the three months period before that.

Previous quarterly figures showed Germany avoided a ‘technical’ recession last year in the sense of two consecutive quarters of contraction. But they, and the new figures for the full year, show Europe’s largest economy struggling to generate growth.

German GDP inline with forecast

The expansion in gross domestic product (GDP) was in line with forecasts from economists. The 2019 full-year (GDP) figure shows a slowdown from the 1.5% growth recorded in 2018 and the 2.2% expansion of 2017.

Germany GDP

The German economy has grown for the tenth year in a row. But, growth lost momentum in 2019, according to data from Destatis. Growth in 2019 was mainly supported by consumption expenditure. German exports continued to increase on an annual average in 2019, though at a slower pace than in the previous years, the German statistics office reported.

Service sector

Destatis said economic performance was up in the service sector, but down in industry.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *