Money, euros, purchase – illustration photo.
Berlin – Germany's gross domestic product (GDP) stagnated in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter. The Federal Statistical Office stated this in its quick estimate today, which is based on seasonally, price- and calendar-adjusted data. The German economy thus did not return to moderate growth as expected.
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The return to moderate economic growth predicted by analysts did not happen, but Germany still narrowly avoided a so-called technical recession. Such a state is usually defined as at least two consecutive quarters of economic decline. Moderate growth was announced, among other things, by the German central bank's report on Monday. According to commentators, the mild winter also helped to prevent bad scenarios. A possible shortage of natural gas could cripple industry, leaving deep consequences.
The Statistics Office said of the stagnation that private and state consumption decreased at the beginning of the year. “On the contrary, positive impulses came thanks to investments and exports,” the office said.
Federal Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Wednesday, when presenting the spring economic development forecast, that the German economy has proven to be adaptable and resistant to the pressures placed on it in connection with the war in Ukraine and unfavorable demographic developments. “The gradual recovery we saw in the first quarter continues,” the minister said.
The government thus published a more optimistic economic forecast on Wednesday, according to which GDP will grow by 0.4 percent this year, not by 0.2 percent, as was assumed until then. On the other hand, the forecast lowered the estimate of economic growth for next year, to 1.6 from the previous 1.8 percent.
The German economy is the largest in Europe and a number of Czech companies depend on it, among other things. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the growth of the German economy slowed to 1.8 percent last year from 2.6 percent the year before.
The unemployment rate in Germany in in April it remained at 5.6 percent
Berlin, April 28 (ČTK reporter) – According to seasonally adjusted data, the number of people without work in Germany increased by 24,000 to 2.57 million in April, but the unemployment rate remained the same as in March at 5.6 percent. The Federal Labor Office announced this today in its report.
“The spring recovery on the labor market remained weak even in April. One of the the reason is the slow growth of the economy. Overall, however, the labor market is stable,” said Andrea Nahlesová, head of the Federal Labor Office, at today's press conference in Munich.
If seasonal fluctuations were not taken into account, the April unemployment rate was 5.7 percent. This is the same value as in March, February and January, but year-on-year it is 0.7 percentage points higher. According to the office, this is probably influenced by the effects of the war in Ukraine, as Germany took in over one million Ukrainian refugees last year.
According to current data from 1 to On April 24, it registers roughly 36,000. However, these data are preliminary, as the balance of the actual use of short-term work is available to the office until the end of February, when 162,000 employees received money under the protection regime. The number of cases of short-time work increased in February after a decrease in January, with 141,000 employees in this regime in January.
The demand for labor remains high, the labor office said. The number of vacancies registered by the Labor Office in April was 773,000, which is roughly 4,000 less than in February. In a year-on-year comparison, however, the number of vacancies is 79,000 lower.
