Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

ECONOMY

German economy grew more than estimated in third quarter

Germany's economy grew more than previously thought in the third quarter despite high inflation and an energy crisis, revised official data showed Friday.

Published: 25 November 2022 09:44 CET

Lübeck Christmas market

Shoppers stroll through Lübeck Christmas market. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Markus Scholz

Europe’s biggest economy expanded by 0.4 percent between July and September compared to the second quarter — slightly better than the 0.3 percent growth previously calculated by federal statistics agency Destatis.

Analysts had forecast a contraction in the third quarter as the fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine takes a toll on European economies.

“Overall, the German economy remains robust,” Destatis said in a statement. Gross domestic product grew “despite difficult general conditions in the global economy such as the continuing Covid-19 pandemic, delivery bottlenecks, continuing price rises and the war in Ukraine,” it said.

READ ALSO: German recession could be less severe than expected, survey shows

A separate survey on Friday showed that German consumer confidence has edged up again following a long period of decline, the latest indication that concerns are easing about the severity of a approaching downturn.

Pollster GfK’s forward-looking barometer registered minus 40.2 points for December, an increase of 1.7 points from November.

Germany was heavily reliant on Russian gas before the war, and Moscow’s move to cut off flows through the crucial Nord Stream 1 pipeline has fuelled fears of energy shortages and skyrocketing heating bills this winter.

Record-high inflation of 10 percent in September has added to the pain, as consumers and businesses see their purchasing power eroded.

The German government expects the economy to shrink by 0.4 percent in 2023.

READ ALSO: Has Germany’s sky-high inflation finally peaked?

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Germany's biggest companies campaign against far right parties ahead of the EU elections

The alliance of 30 companies includes blue-chip groups like BMW, BASF and Deutsche Bank, a well as family-owned businesses and start-ups.

“Exclusion, extremism and populism pose threats to Germany as a business location and to our prosperity,” said the alliance in a statement.

“In their first joint campaign, the companies are calling on their combined 1.7 million employees to take part in the upcoming European elections and engaging in numerous activities to highlight the importance of European unity for prosperity, growth and jobs,” it added.

The unusual action by the industrial giants came as latest opinion polls show the far-right AfD obtaining about 15 percent of the EU vote next month in Germany, tied in second place with the Greens after the conservative CDU-CSU alliance.

A series of recent scandals, including the arrest of a researcher working for an AfD MEP, have sent the party’s popularity sliding since the turn of the year, even though it remains just ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats.

Already struggling with severe shortages in skilled workers, many German enterprises fear gains by the far right could further erode the attractiveness of Europe’s biggest economy to migrant labour.

READ ALSO: INTERVIEW – Why racism is prompting a skilled worker exodus from eastern Germany

The alliance estimates that fast-ageing Germany currently already has 1.73 million unfilled positions, while an additional 200,000 to 400,000 workers would be necessary annually in coming years.

bmw worker

, chief executive of the Dussmann Group, noted that 68,000 people from over 100 nations work in the family business.

“For many of them, their work with us, for example in cleaning buildings or geriatric care, is their entry into the primary labour market and therefore the key to successful integration. Hate and exclusion have no place here,” he said.

Siemens Energy chief executive Christian Bruch warned that “isolationism, extremism, and xenophobia are poison for German exports and jobs here in Germany – we must therefore not give space to the fearmongers and fall for their supposedly simple solutions”.

The alliance said it is planning a social media campaign to underline the call against extremism and urged other companies to join its initiative.

READ ALSO: A fight for the youth vote – Are German politicians social media savvy enough?

It added that the campaign will continue after the EU elections, with three eastern German states to vote for regional parliaments in September.

In all three — Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony — the far-right AfD party is leading surveys.

Url copied to clipboard!