Press release No.290 / 2008-08-14

First release of data on the economic performance in the 2^nd quarter of 2008

WIESBADEN – For the first time in almost four years, the German economy shrank in the second quarter of 2008: The gross domestic product (GDP) was down by 0.5% on the first quarter of 2008 upon price, seasonal and calendar adjustment. In the first three months of the year, the GDPwas up 1.3%. The last time the German economy recorded a decrease was in the third quarter of 2004 (–0.2%).

As further reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the economic trend in the second quarter was characterised by decreasing household final consumption expenditure and smaller fixed capital formation. Especially capital formation in construction was markedly smaller than in the first quarter. Positive contribution was made by foreign trade, which however was mainly due to a significant decrease in imports.

The GDP was up 3.1% in the second quarter of 2008 compared with the same quarter a year earlier. When calendar adjusted, the growth rate was 1.7% as the reference quarter had three more working days than the second quarter of 2007.

The economic performance in the second quarter of 2008 was achieved by 40.2 million persons in employment, which was an increase of 566,000 persons or 1.4% on a year earlier.

In addition to the first calculation of data for the second quarter, the results published so far for the last four years (from 2004) were revised at the same time, as is the case every year in August. Such continuous revisions are carried out routinely to integrate newly available statistical information into the calculations. Hence, the GDP calculation is successively put on an ever better founded data basis in statistical terms.

The complete basic statistics required for a “final” calculation of national accounting data generally are available only after about four years, so that only then are the results final and do no longer have to be revised on a regular basis.

The current recalculations resulted in rates of change of the annual and quarterly GDP (unadjusted figures) which differ from the previously published results by up to 0.2 percentage points. The rates of change of the seasonally and calendar adjusted quarterly results were revised by up to 0.3 percentage points.

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

>>> Brief methodical description

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

E-mail: gdp-info@destatis.de

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 %.
2004	1st quarter	100.29	1.6	101.91	0.3	99.96	1.0	0.6
	2nd quarter	101.85	1.6	101.98	0.1	101.68	1.2	0.4
	3rd quarter	103.24	0.6	101.80	–0.2	103.04	0.6	0.0
	4th quarter	103.58	1.0	101.83	0.0	102.85	0.2	0.8
2005	1st quarter	99.44	–0.8	102.00	0.2	100.09	0.1	–1.0
	2nd quarter	103.47	1.6	102.72	0.7	102.38	0.7	0.9
	3rd quarter	104.60	1.3	103.25	0.5	104.49	1.4	–0.1
	4th quarter	104.60	1.0	103.43	0.2	104.43	1.5	–0.5
2006	1st quarter	103.02	3.6	104.29	0.8	102.38	2.3	1.3
	2nd quarter	105.22	1.7	105.85	1.5	105.47	3.0	–1.3
	3rd quarter	107.49	2.8	106.59	0.7	107.86	3.2	–0.4
	4th quarter	108.60	3.8	107.71	1.1	108.72	4.1	–0.3
2007	1st quarter	106.56	3.4	108.15	0.4	106.21	3.7	–0.3
	2nd quarter	107.84	2.5	108.53	0.4	108.15	2.5	–0.0
	3rd quarter	110.06	2.4	109.18	0.6	110.49	2.4	–0.0
	4th quarter	110.31	1.6	109.55	0.3	110.56	1.7	–0.1
2008	1st quarter	108.46	1.8	110.94	1.3	108.99	2.6	–0.8
2008	2nd quarter	111.18	3.1	110.39	–0.5	109.99	1.7	1.4

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 %.
2004	1st quarter	537.30	2.7	549.05	0.6
	2nd quarter	547.10	2.9	551.50	0.4
	3rd quarter	560.10	1.5	551.78	0.1
	4th quarter	566.40	1.7	550.81	–0.2
2005	1st quarter	537.90	0.1	554.64	0.7
	2nd quarter	558.50	2.1	558.11	0.6
	3rd quarter	570.10	1.8	562.16	0.7
	4th quarter	576.70	1.8	564.38	0.4
2006	1st quarter	559.00	3.9	568.77	0.8
	2nd quarter	571.40	2.3	578.45	1.7
	3rd quarter	589.20	3.4	583.75	0.9
	4th quarter	601.90	4.4	591.11	1.3
2007	1st quarter	588.20	5.2	599.86	1.5
	2nd quarter	596.80	4.4	604.30	0.7
	3rd quarter	615.10	4.4	609.66	0.9
	4th quarter	622.80	3.5	612.67	0.5
2008	1st quarter	606.20	3.1	622.96	1.7
2008	2nd quarter	622.90	4.4	622.10	–0.1

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⁾
		Seasonally and calendar adjusted figures according to Census X-12-ARIMA
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 %.
2004	1st quarter	101.91	0.3	101.86	0.3
	2nd quarter	101.98	0.1	101.78	–0.1
	3rd quarter	101.80	–0.2	101.61	–0.2
	4th quarter	101.83	0.0	101.69	0.1
2005	1st quarter	102.00	0.2	102.05	0.4
	2nd quarter	102.72	0.7	102.46	0.4
	3rd quarter	103.25	0.5	103.04	0.6
	4th quarter	103.43	0.2	103.33	0.3
2006	1st quarter	104.29	0.8	104.21	0.9
	2nd quarter	105.85	1.5	105.58	1.3
	3rd quarter	106.59	0.7	106.36	0.7
	4th quarter	107.71	1.1	107.41	1.0
2007	1st quarter	108.15	0.4	108.10	0.6
	2nd quarter	108.53	0.4	108.28	0.2
	3rd quarter	109.18	0.6	109.00	0.7
	4th quarter	109.55	0.3	109.29	0.3
2008	1st quarter	110.94	1.3	110.96	1.5
2008	2nd quarter	110.39	–0.5	X	X
Unadjusted figures
2004		102.24	1.2	102.09	1.1
2005		103.03	0.8	102.89	0.8
2006		106.08	3.0	105.84	2.9
2007		108.69	2.5	108.47	2.5
2004	1st quarter	100.29	1.6	100.11	1.5
	2nd quarter	101.85	1.6	101.68	1.5
	3rd quarter	103.24	0.6	103.09	0.4
	4th quarter	103.58	1.0	103.49	0.9
2005	1st quarter	99.44	–0.8	99.31	–0.8
	2nd quarter	103.47	1.6	103.30	1.6
	3rd quarter	104.60	1.3	104.42	1.3
	4th quarter	104.60	1.0	104.54	1.0
2006	1st quarter	103.02	3.6	102.70	3.4
	2nd quarter	105.22	1.7	104.99	1.6
	3rd quarter	107.49	2.8	107.25	2.7
	4th quarter	108.60	3.8	108.42	3.7
2007	1st quarter	106.56	3.4	106.21	3.4
	2nd quarter	107.84	2.5	107.63	2.5
	3rd quarter	110.06	2.4	109.84	2.4
	4th quarter	110.31	1.6	110.18	1.6
2008	1st quarter	108.46	1.8	108.16	1.8
2008	2nd quarter	111.18	3.1	X	X

For more details please refer to the German version.

Contact:
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presse@destatis.de
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Press release No.290 / 2008-08-14

First release of data on the economic performance in the 2nd quarter of 2008

First release of data on the economic performance in the 2^nd quarter of 2008