German GDP falls in the first quarter – Germany in technical recession

As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) in its second publication, GDP fell by 0.3 percent compared to the previous quarter after adjustment for price, calendar and seasonal effects and was 0.5 percent below the level of the same quarter of the previous year after adjustment for price and calendar effects.

In a first estimate, Destatis had reported stagnation over the quarter and a decline of 0.1 percent over the year. In the fourth quarter of 2022, GDP fell by 0.5 percent.

At the same time, Destatis provided information on the development of the individual use and production components of GDP. Private consumption fell by 1.2 (fourth quarter: minus 1.7) percent compared to the previous quarter, and public consumption fell by 4.9 (plus 0.2) percentage points. Investments in construction, on the other hand, rose by 3.9 (minus 3.2) percent and investments in equipment by 3.2 (minus 3.6) percent.

Inventory changes were neutral on the quarterly rate of GDP after supporting 0.4 percentage point in the fourth quarter. Net exports made a contribution to growth of 0.7 (0.5) points. Exports increased by 0.4 (minus 1.3) percent, imports fell by 0.9 (minus 2.4) percent.

Gross value added in manufacturing increased by 2.0 (minus 0.3) percent and construction output by 6.1 (minus 2.8) percent. The gross value added of corporate service providers fell by 0.4 (0.0) percent, while that of other service providers increased by 1.2 (minus 6.6) percent. Overall, gross value added increased by 0.9 percent in the first quarter.

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)

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