Germany: Economic growth broadly unchanged in Q4
According to preliminary data released by the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis) on 14 February, the German economy marginally lost steam in Q4. GDP rose a seasonally-, calendar- and price-adjusted 0.6% over the prior quarter, matching market estimates. The print came in just below the 0.7% quarter-on-quarter expansion clocked in Q3.
The expansion in the fourth quarter was driven by the external sector, with preliminary calculations showing that exports increased substantially in quarter-on-quarter terms. In addition, public consumption likely grew over the previous quarter in the surveyed time, at a broadly stable pace. Gross fixed capital formation is also expected to have increased in Q4 from the previous quarter, while capital formation in construction is expected to have dipped.
A year-on-year comparison showed that GDP grew a price-adjusted 2.3% in the fourth quarter, a slight improvement from 2.2% in the third quarter. For 2017, GDP growth came in at 2.2%, above the 1.9% expansion in 2016.