- ALSO READ
German economy shrank 0.2% in Q4 compared to Q3, worse than expected
Global factory activity shrank in November but price pressures ease
IND vs AUS 1st T20I: Pitch Report, Weather Update of PCA Stadium, Mohali
Ind vs SA 1st ODI preview: Opportunity for players to make a statement
JSW Steel signs agreement with German group for carbon reduction projects
-
The German economy shrank by 0.4 per cent in last year's fourth quarter, the national statistics office said Friday, a sharp downward revision from its initial report that gross domestic product declined by 0.2 per cent.
The quarter-on-quarter contraction in the October-December period was the first since the first quarter of 2021.
Consumer spending, which propped up growth in the first nine months of last year, dropped by 1 per cent in the final three months of 2022.
Investment in construction and machinery showed bigger drops in the final quarter, the Federal Statistical Office said.
The full-year 2022 growth figure for Germany Europe's biggest economy remained at the 1.8 per cent that the office reported at the end of January.
The economy has generally held up well, despite pressure from high inflation and fears last year of an energy crunch as Russia reduced and then cut off its gas supplies to Germany. That didn't materialise.
On Wednesday, a closely watched survey showed German business confidence strengthening for the fourth consecutive month.
That, however, was due entirely to an improvement in companies' outlook for the next six months. Their assessment of the current situation worsened slightly for the second consecutive month.
That, coupled with weak consumer confidence and other factors, underlines expectations that the German economy will contract again in the current first quarter, ING economist Carsten Brzeski said.
"Not falling off the cliff is one thing; staging a strong rebound, however, is a different matter," he said in a research note.
He added that industrial orders have been weakening for the past years, consumer confidence, "is still close to historic lows, the loss of purchasing power will continue in 2023, and the full impact of monetary policy tightening still has to unfold.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Subscribe to Business Standard Premium
Exclusive Stories, Curated Newsletters, 26 years of Archives, E-paper, and more!
Insightful news, sharp views, newsletters, e-paper, and more! Unlock incisive commentary only on Business Standard.
Download the Business Standard App for latest Business News and Market News .
First Published: Fri, February 24 2023. 17:31 IST
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU