The German economy continued to show only sluggish growth in the third quarter of this year, official data showed this morning.
The Federal Statistics Office calculated that German gross domestic product (GDP) grew only 0.3 per cent in the third quarter and was up by 0.9 per cent on a 12-month basis.
That is little improvement from the previous quarter when GDP had risen by a revised 0.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter and by 0.4 per cent year-on-year.
But the figures close to analysts' expectations, especially since the Bundesbank had already published its own estimates for third-quarter growth earlier this week.
It too had calculated quarter-on-quarter growth of just 0.3 per cent in the period from July to September, saying that activity in the euro zone's biggest economy was too weak to bring about any improvement in the labour markets and there was little prospect for an upturn in investment and employment.
But private consumption figures in the office of statistics data picked up to show growth of 0.5 per cent in the third quarter from the second quarter, stronger than the increase of 0.1 per cent recorded in the previous three months.
Analysts suggested that figure showed that private consumption was stabilising and if it continued to do so in the coming months it could prevent Germany from slipping back into recession.
AFP