Germany posts 0.3 % economic growth in Q2

PanARMENIAN.Net - The German economy, Europe's biggest, beat analysts' expectations to grow by 0.3 percent in the second quarter, buoyed by rising exports and robust domestic demand, official data showed on Tuesday, Aug. 14, according to AFP.

Analysts had been forecasting economic growth of just 0.2 percent for the period from April to June.

Nevertheless, growth was still slower than the 0.5 percent seen in the first quarter, as Germany, too, begins to feel the effects of the long-running debt crisis that has pushed much of Europe into recession, according to the data published by the national statistics office Destatis.

"Positive impulses came from both consumer spending and from net foreign trade," Destatis said in a statement.

"According to preliminary data, exports grew somewhat faster than imports. Furthermore, both private and public spending was higher than in the preceding quarter, helping to offset a decline in investment," the statisticians explained.

While many of Germany's eurozone partners are teetering on the edge of or already in recession, the bloc's economic powerhouse is continuing to expand, thanks largely to deep structural reforms implemented a number of years ago.