Press release 171 / 2016-05-24:Detailed gross domestic product results for the 1st quarter of 2016
WIESBADEN – The German economy gained pace at the start of this year. As the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) already reported in its first release of 13 May 2016, the gross domestic product (GDP) increased 0.7% – upon price, seasonal and calendar adjustment – in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the fourth quarter of 2015. The moderate growth path of last year (+0.3% in the last quarter of 2015) thus accelerated.
The quarter-on-quarter comparison (following price, seasonal and calendar adjustment) reveals that positive contributions mainly came from domestic demand. Especially fixed capital formation increased markedly at the beginning of the year. Gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment rose by 1.9% on the fourth quarter of 2015. Gross fixed capital formation in construction even increased by 2.3%, one reason being the mild weather. Final consumption expenditure of households rose by 0.4% and government final consumption expenditure increased by 0.5% on the previous quarter.
External demand increased, too. According to provisional calculations, exports of goods and services were up by a total 1.0% compared with the fourth quarter of 2015 (adjusted for price, seasonal and calendar effects). However, the increase in imports was somewhat larger (+1.4%) in the same period. Arithmetically, the balance of exports and imports thus had a downward effect of –0.1 percentage points on GDP growth.
page source https://www.destatis.de/
