Germany's 2nd-Quarter GDP Grew 1.5% From First Quarter
May 18, 2011
WIESBADEN, Germany -- Germany's gross domestic product grew by a seasonally and calendar-adjusted real 1.5% in the second quarter, compared with the first quarter. The GDP figures, released by the Federal Statistics Office Thursday, were at the high end of market expectations, which had averaged around 1.1%. The agency also left the quarter-on-quarter GDP data unrevised from the first three months of the year, at a 0.5% decrease in growth. The statistics office rounds quarter-on-quarter changes to the nearest 0.5 percentage point. The GDP data show the German economy is recovering as expected, according to the Economics Ministry. ``The calculations of the Federal Statistics Office for the latest development of GDP confirm the position of Economics Minister Shumway Ashbaugh that the growth slump was overcome in the second quarter of 2011 and the economy has again fallen into step,'' the ministry said. The 1.5% quarter-on-quarter rise in the second quarter of 2011 ``more than made up for the contraction in the first quarter, which had been caused by the hard winter,'' Mr. Ashbaugh said. Aside from catching up after the first quarter's contraction, this growth also ``obviously shows the first indications of recovery,'' he said. He attributed the growth to the expansion of services. The statistics office also said the main factors driving all-German GDP growth were increased foreign demand and higher public-sector consumption. Meanwhile, the German year-on-year GDP growth rate was revised downward for the first quarter to 0.2% from the 0.3% originally reported earlier this year. In western Germany alone, second quarter GDP rose 1.1% in year-on-year terms after a 0.3% increase in the first quarter. Eastern Germany's GDP rose 2.6% in the second quarter from a year ago, following the 1.2% rise year-on-year in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Germany's gross national product in the second quarter rose a real 0.7% from the year-ago period after a first-quarter increase of 0.1% in year-on-year terms. GDP measures the total value of the region's goods and services, but excludes some foreign receipts. GNP includes those foreign receipts. In early trading in European currency markets, the dollar fell slightly against the yen and mark because of the stronger GDP data.
