German economy beats expectations with 0.3% growth in Q2
2012-08-14 15:18:46
The German economy, Europe's biggest, beat analysts' expectations to grow by 0.3 per cent in the second quarter, buoyed by rising exports and robust domestic demand, official data showed on Tuesday.
Analysts had been forecasting economic growth of just 0.2 per cent for the period from April to June.
Nevertheless, growth was still slower than the 0.5 per cent seen in the first quarter, as Germany, too, begins to feel the effects of the long-runnung debt crisis that has pushed much of Europe into recession, according to the data published by the national statistics office Destatis.
"Positive impulses came from both consumer spending and from net foreign trade," Destatis said in a statement.
"According to preliminary data, exports grew somewhat faster than imports. Furthermore, both private and public spending was higher than in the preceding quarter, helping to offset a decline in investment," the statisticians explained.
While many of Germany's eurozone partners are teetering on the edge of -- or already in -- recession, the bloc's economic powerhouse is continuing to expand, thanks largely to deep structural reforms implemented a number of years ago.
However, with much of Europe in the doldrums, German exports, too, are beginning to falter and some analysts believe the economy as a whole could soon grind to a halt.
A raft of recent economic data suggests that Germany's growth momentum is indeed fading.
Exports, which grew 4.1 per cent in May, fell 1.5 per cent in June, hit by falling shipments to the other 16 countries of the eurozone, according to the latest data released last week.
Imports -- a barometer of domestic demand -- were down, too, falling by 2.9 per cent.
The slump in demand is hitting industry and the manufacturing sector, the backbone of the German economy, separate data published by the economy ministry showed.
Factory orders fell by a bigger-than-expected 1.7 per cent in June, more than wiping out the modest increase seen the previous month, while industrial output declined 0.9 per cent.
New car registrations -- a key gauge of demand in one of the most important industrial sectors -- fell sharply last month, retail sales are also in decline and unemployment is on the rise again, which could hurt consumer spending.
Last month, business confidence dropped for the third month in a row and investor confidence hit a six-month low.