Press release No.056 / 2008-02-14

First release of data on the economic performance in the 4th quarter of 2007

WIESBADEN – The upward trend of the German economy continued in the fourth quarter of 2007. However, economic growth was smaller than in the previous quarter: The gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2007 on the third quarter of 2007 upon price, seasonal and calendar adjustment. In the third quarter of 2007 the GDP grew as much as 0.7%.

As further reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the GDP was up 1.6% in the fourth quarter of 2007 compared with the same quarter a year earlier. When calendar-adjusted, the growth rate was 1.8% because in the fourth quarter of 2007 there was one working day less than a year earlier.

The provisional growth rate of 2.5% (calendar adjusted +2.6%) for the GDP of the year 2007 as released on 15 January 2008 remains unchanged.

Economic growth in the fourth quarter was based on capital formation in machinery and equipment, which rose considerably again, and on net exports. A negative contribution was made by consumption, which was characterised by decreasing household final consumption expenditure.

The economic performance in the fourth quarter of 2007 was achieved by 40.3 million persons in employment, which was an increase of 617,000 persons or 1.6% on a year earlier.

In addition to the first calculation of data for the fourth quarter of 2007, the results published so far for the first three quarters of 2007 and for the year of 2007 have been revised and changed where necessary.

The Federal Statistical Office will release more detailed results on 26 February 2008.

>>> Brief methodological description

Gross domestic product
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
		Unadjusted figures		Figures according to Census X-12-ARIMA
		Unadjusted figures		Seasonally and calendar adjusted		Calendar adjusted		Calendar effect
		2000 = 100	% ¹⁾	2000 = 100	% ²⁾	2000 = 100	% ¹⁾	% ¹
¹⁾ Change on the same quarter of the preceding year in %. ²⁾ Change on the previous quarter in %.
2005	1st quarter	99.31	–0.8	102.05	0.4	99.94	0.2	–1.0
	2nd quarter	103.30	1.6	102.46	0.4	102.18	0.7	0.9
	3rd quarter	104.42	1.3	103.04	0.6	104.33	1.4	–0.1
	4th quarter	104.54	1.0	103.33	0.3	104.43	1.6	–0.6
2006	1st quarter	102.70	3.4	104.21	0.9	102.05	2.1	1.3
	2nd quarter	104.99	1.6	105.58	1.3	105.27	3.0	–1.3
	3rd quarter	107.25	2.7	106.36	0.7	107.67	3.2	–0.5
	4th quarter	108.42	3.7	107.41	1.0	108.56	4.0	–0.2
2007	1st quarter	106.21	3.4	108.10	0.6	105.87	3.7	–0.3
	2nd quarter	107.63	2.5	108.28	0.2	107.97	2.6	–0.0
	3rd quarter	109.84	2.4	109.00	0.7	110.34	2.5	–0.1
	4th quarter	110.18	1.6	109.29	0.3	110.48	1.8	–0.1

Gross domestic product at current prices
		Unadjusted figures		Seasonally and calendar adjusted figures according to Census X-12-ARIMA
		EUR billion	Change in % ¹⁾	EUR billion	Change in % ²⁾
¹⁾ Change on the same quarter of the preceding year in %. ²⁾ Change on the previous quarter in %.
2005	1st quarter	537.80	0.1	555.17	0.7
	2nd quarter	558.50	2.1	558.19	0.5
	3rd quarter	571.30	1.9	562.33	0.7
	4th quarter	577.00	1.8	565.16	0.5
2006	1st quarter	558.90	3.9	569.51	0.8
	2nd quarter	571.20	2.3	578.80	1.6
	3rd quarter	590.50	3.4	583.98	0.9
	4th quarter	601.60	4.3	590.99	1.2
2007	1st quarter	586.90	5.0	599.65	1.5
	2nd quarter	597.40	4.6	605.61	1.0
	3rd quarter	616.80	4.5	610.26	0.8
	4th quarter	622.70	3.5	612.80	0.4

Gross domestic product
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
		New result		Former result
		Chain index (2000 = 100)	Change in % ¹⁾	Chain index (2000 = 100)	Change in % ¹⁾
¹⁾ Seasonally and calendar adjusted figures: Change on the previous quarter in %; Unadjusted figures: Change on the previous year or the same quarter of the preceding year in %.
		Seasonally and calendar adjusted figures according to Census X-12-ARIMA
2006	1st quarter	104.21	0.9	104.21	0.9
	2nd quarter	105.58	1.3	105.58	1.3
	3rd quarter	106.36	0.7	106.36	0.7
	4th quarter	107.41	1.0	107.41	1.0
2007	1st quarter	108.10	0.6	107.99	0.5
	2nd quarter	108.28	0.2	108.27	0.3
	3rd quarter	109.00	0.7	109.01	0.7
	4th quarter	109.29	0.3	X	X
		Unadjusted figures
2006		105.84	2.9	105.84	2.9
2007		108.47	2.5	108.47	2.5
2006	1st quarter	102.70	3.4	102.70	3.4
	2nd quarter	104.99	1.6	104.99	1.6
	3rd quarter	107.25	2.7	107.25	2.7
	4th quarter	108.42	3.7	108.42	3.7
2007	1st quarter	106.21	3.4	106.09	3.3
	2nd quarter	107.63	2.5	107.61	2.5
	3rd quarter	109.84	2.4	109.84	2.4
	4th quarter	110.18	1.6	X	X

For further information please contact:
National accounts info team,
tel: (+49-611) 75-2626,

E-mail: bip-info@destatis.de

For more details please refer to the German version.

Contact:
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