Final figures this morning confirmed that the German economy grew by 0.4% in the first three months of 2006, but also showed that domestic demand is picking up. The German economic recovery has so far been driven by exports.
As already reported earlier this month, German gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.4% after stagnating in the preceding three months, federal statistics office Destatis said in a statement.
Private consumption, long in the doldrums in Germany, rebounded, expanding by 0.6%. Public sector spending also increased by 0.6%.
Investment in equipment was up by as much as 2.2%, while investment in construction slumped by 3%. All in all, domestic demand contributed a modest 0.1 percentage points to growth, Destatis calculated. Net foreign trade added 0.3 percentage points to growth since exports grew slightly faster than imports.
