Germany’s economy shrinks 0.5% in Q2

14 August 2008 14:45  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--Germany’s economy shrank 0.5% in the 2008 second quarter, compared with the first quarter, the first decline in gross domestic product (GDP) in almost four years, the country’s federal statistics office said on Thursday.

 

The sequential drop in the second quarter followed a 1.3% increase in the first quarter, said the Statistisches Bundesamt in Wiesbaden.

 

It came on the back of declining household consumption expenditure and lower investments, particularly in the building and construction sector, the office said.

 

External trade trends were positive in the second the quarter, but this was mainly due to a decline in imports, it said.

 

Employment was up 1.4% from the 2007 second quarter to 40.2m.

 

The data was preliminary and subject to revisions, the statistics office said.

 

The last time Germany’s GDP recorded a sequential decline was in the 2004 third quarter when it dropped 0.2%.

 

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By: Stefan Baumgarten
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