File photo of shoppers resting with their purchases in downtown Hanover June 19, 2012. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer/Files
November 14, 2019
BERLIN (Reuters) – The German economy escaped a recession in the third quarter as strong consumer spending helped output grow 0.1% quarter-on-quarter, defying expectations of a contraction, preliminary data showed on Thursday.
On the year, gross domestic product in Europe’s largest economy expanded by 0.5% from July through September after a 0.3% expansion from April through June, seasonally adjusted figures from the Federal Statistics Office showed.
Private household spending was higher than in the second quarter and the state also increased spending, the statistics office said, adding that construction also supported growth.
“We do not have a technical recession, but the growth numbers are still too weak,” Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told ARD public television.
While exports edged up, imports remained at about the level of the previous quarter, the office said, suggesting that net trade had a positive impact on the economy.
The Statistic Office revised down the quarterly GDP rate for the second quarter to a 0.2% quarter-on-quarter contraction from a previously reported 0.1% decline.
Analysts polled by Reuters for the third quarter had expected a 0.1% contraction quarter-on-quarter and a 0.5% expansion year-on-year in seasonally adjusted terms.
(Reporting by Michael Nienaber, editing by Thomas Escritt)
