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Steelworks in Duisburg: Higher private and state consumer spending
Photo: Martin Meissner / AP
The German economy picked up momentum again with the end of the Corona lockdown in spring. The gross domestic product (GDP) rose from April to June by 1.5 percent compared to the previous quarter, as the Federal Statistical Office announced in a flash estimate on Friday. Economists polled by Reuters had expected an increase of 2.0 percent. At the beginning of the year, the economy collapsed by 2.1 percent in the third corona wave, according to the latest calculations by statisticians. Initially, there was only talk of a minus of 1.8 percent.
Now things recovered in the second quarter, as Destatis stated.
Above all, higher private and government consumer spending contributed to this.
The Bundesbank assumes that the pace of growth will accelerate in the course of the gradual opening of the economy in the summer.
In this way, GDP could reach its pre-crisis level in the current third quarter.
The increasing number of corona infections in the course of the spread of the delta variant, however, cloud the further prospects somewhat.
Some experts therefore fear that the economy could suffer more from the consequences of the pandemic again towards the end of the year.
In addition, rising raw material prices and supply bottlenecks for important intermediate products are causing problems for the industry.
mik / Reuters