Press release No.181 / 2010-05-21

Detailed results on the gross domestic product in the 1st quarter of 2010

WIESBADEN – As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) already in its first release of 12 May 2010, the gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2010 rose 0.2% on the previous quarter, upon price, seasonal and calendar adjustment. At the same time, the result for the fourth quarter of 2009 was slightly corrected upwards, now also showing a 0.2% increase. Although the upward movement observed for the economy in the second quarter of 2009 (+0.4%) and the third quarter of 2009 (+0.7%) slightly slowed down, it continued despite the relatively cold and long winter.

Gross domestic product, price-adjusted, chain-linked
(figures adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects using Census X-12-ARIMA)
Changes on a quarter earlier:

2008				2009				2010
1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	1st quarter
+1.6%	–0.6%	–0.3%	–2.4%	–3.5%	+0.4%	+0.7%	+0.2%	+0.2%

The economic development in the first quarter of 2010 was supported, among other things, by exports which – upon price, seasonal and calendar adjustment – rose 2.6% on the previous quarter. The fact that the balance of exports and imports nevertheless slowed down GDP growth by a negative contribution of –1.1 percentage points was due to the even larger increase in imports (+6.1%).
However, domestic uses (contribution to growth: +1.3 percentage points) offset the negative impact of the balance of exports and imports: As regards capital formation, an increase in capital formation in machinery and equipment (+1.6%) and a strong building up of inventories more than offset the decrease in capital formation in construction (–3.8%). Final consumption expenditure of households, too, was down in the reference quarter (–0.8%), while government final consumption expenditure rose 1.1%.

The following information refers to the year-on-year comparison:
In a year-on-year comparison, too, the GDP increased, following the slump of a year ago: In the first quarter of 2010, the price-adjusted GDP was up 1.7% on the first quarter of 2009 (calendar-adjusted: +1.6%).

Gross domestic product, price-adjusted, chain-linked (unadjusted figures)
Changes on a year earlier:

2008				2009				2010
1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	1st quarter
+2.1%	+3.4%	+1.4%	–1.7%	–6.4%	–7.0%	–4.7%	–1.5%	+1.7%

The GDP in the first quarter of 2010 was achieved by 39.8 million persons in employment, which was a decrease by 107,000 persons or 0.3% on a year earlier.

Overall labour productivity (price-adjusted GDP per person in employment) was up by 2.0% in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the first quarter of 2009. When measured per hour worked by persons in employment, however, labour productivity rose just slightly (+0.7%) because, on average, the number of hours worked per person in employment was higher than in the same quarter of the previous year (+1.3%). A major reason is that short-time work was made use of less frequently and that normal weekly working hours and overtime slightly increased.

Price-adjusted gross value added of all economic sectors in the first quarter of 2010 was by 2.2% larger than in the first quarter of 2009. That was the first increase since the economic crisis had started in late 2008. The largest contribution was made by industry (including energy): For the first time since the beginning of the crisis, an increase was recorded here, too, which was quite marked (+6.8%). Also, other service activities (+2.3%) and financial, real-estate, renting and business activities (+0.9%) recorded increases on a year earlier. However, the output in construction in the first quarter of 2010 was by 3.7% smaller than in the same period of the previous year. Also, gross value added in agriculture, forestry and fishing (–0.1%) as well as in trade, transport and communications (–0.2%) was slightly down in the first quarter of 2010, although in the latter sector the decrease was smaller than in the previous five quarters.

On the use side of the gross domestic product, foreign trade contributed most to year-on-year economic growth. Price-adjusted exports of goods and services rose 7.5%, imports only 4.2%. The resulting export surplus contributed +1.6 percentage points to GDP growth.

Among domestic uses, a positive effect was provided by real capital formation in machinery and equipment: Following sharp falls in five successive quarters, a slight year-on-year increase was observed here for the first time (+0.8%). By contrast, capital formation in construction was down 3.1% on a year earlier, which however is not surprising considering the cold and long winter. Final consumption expenditure, too, made an altogether negative contribution to economic growth (–0.3%) in a year-on-year comparison. Although government final consumption expenditure rose 2.4% on the first quarter of 2009, final consumption expenditure of households was markedly lower than a year earlier (–1.2%). An additional positive year-on-year impact was provided by a building up of inventories (contribution to growth: +0.5 percentage points).

At current prices, the gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2010 was up by 3.2% and the gross national income by 3.1% on the first quarter of 2009. The net national income (factor costs), which consists of compensation of employees and property and entrepreneurial income, rose 5.6%. While compensation of employees increased just slightly (+0.9%), property and entrepreneurial income recorded a sharp rise (+15.2%). The disposable income of households rose by 0.9%. Nominal final consumption expenditure of households was up 0.7% on a year earlier. This resulted in a savings ratio of households of 15.2%, which was 0.2 percentage points more than in the first quarter of 2009.

In addition to the first calculation of data for the first quarter of 2010, the domestic product results published so far for the four quarters of 2009 and for the year of 2009 were revised and corrected where necessary. This resulted in upward corrections of the rate of change of the price, seasonally and calendar-adjusted GDP for the fourth quarter of 2009 by 0.2 percentage points and that of the price-adjusted GDP for the year of 2009 by 0.1 percentage points.

The above and other national accounts data may be accessed via the internet. In addition, more detailed results are published in Fachserie 18, Series 1.2 “National Accounts Domestic Product, Quarterly results and Series 1.3 “National Accounts -Domestic Product- Seasonally adjusted quarterly results, using Census X-12-ARIMA and BV4.1. A detailed quality report on national accounts is also available.

Gross domestic product
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
		Unadjusted figures		Figures according to Census X-12-ARIMA
		Unadjusted figures		Seasonally and calendar adjusted		Calendar adjusted ¹⁾		Calendar effect
		2000 = 100	% ²⁾	2000 = 100	% ³⁾	2000 = 100	% ²⁾	% ²⁾
¹⁾ For years, the calendar-adjusted values are identical with the seasonally and calendar-adjusted values (except for differences due to rounding). ²⁾ Change on the previous year or the same quarter of the preceding year in %. ³⁾ Change on the previous year or quarter in %.
2008		110.26	1.3	110.10	1.0	110.10	1.0	0.3
2009		104.82	–4.9	104.72	–4.9	104.73	–4.9	–0.1
2008	1st quarter	109.00	2.1	111.42	1.6	109.54	2.9	–0.9
	2nd quarter	111.61	3.4	110.79	–0.6	110.48	2.0	1.4
	3rd quarter	111.83	1.4	110.44	–0.3	111.67	0.8	0.5
	4th quarter	108.58	–1.7	107.74	–2.4	108.71	–1.8	0.1
2009	1st quarter	102.01	–6.4	103.95	–3.5	102.22	–6.7	0.3
	2nd quarter	103.79	–7.0	104.41	0.4	104.10	–5.8	–1.3
	3rd quarter	106.52	–4.7	105.17	0.7	106.30	–4.8	0.1
	4th quarter	106.97	–1.5	105.36	0.2	106.28	–2.2	0.8
2010	1st quarter	103.75	1.7	105.53	0.2	103.81	1.6	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 previous year or the same quarter of the preceding year in %. ²⁾ Change on the previous year or quarter in %.
2008		2,495.80	2.8	2,492.34	2.5
2009		2,409.10	–3.5	2,406.74	–3.4
2008	1st quarter	609.70	3.4	626.40	2.1
	2nd quarter	625.60	4.8	626.26	–0.0
	3rd quarter	634.40	2.8	625.26	–0.2
	4th quarter	626.10	0.2	614.42	–1.7
2009	1st quarter	579.50	– 5.0	593.58	–3.4
	2nd quarter	589.60	– 5.8	598.29	0.8
	3rd quarter	616.00	– 2.9	607.00	1.5
	4th quarter	624.00	– 0.3	607.87	0.1
2010	1st quarter	597.90	3.2	611.26	0.6

Gross domestic product, gross national income and
net national income (factor costs)
Seasonally and calendar adjusted with Census X-12-ARIMA
	2009				2010
	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	1st quarter
¹⁾ Only seasonally adjusted.
Change on the previous quarter in %
Use of the gross domestic product
At current prices
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	–0.4	1.5	–1.0	0.4	–0.5
Government final consumption expenditure	2.3	0.8	1.4	–0.8	2.0
Gross fixed capital formation	–8.0	0.4	0.5	–0.8	–1.9
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	–18.8	–0.7	0.6	–2.1	1.2
GFCF in construction	0.1	1.1	0.5	–0.2	–4.0
D o m e s t i c u s e s	–1.4	–0.5	1.3	–2.0	2.6
Exports	–12.1	–2.1	3.8	3.1	3.6
Imports	–8.5	–5.6	3.6	–2.1	9.6
G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP)	–3.4	0.8	1.5	0.1	0.6
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	0.4	0.8	–1.3	–0.2	–0.8
Government final consumption expenditure	1.5	0.7	0.7	–0.2	1.1
Gross fixed capital formation	–7.8	0.7	0.8	–1.0	–1.6
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	–18.4	–0.5	0.8	–1.5	1.6
GFCF in construction	0.2	1.3	0.6	–1.0	–3.8
D o m e s t i c u s e s	–1.5	–1.1	1.2	–1.5	1.4
Exports	–10.2	–1.0	3.2	2.3	2.6
Imports	–6.1	–4.8	4.7	–1.6	6.1
G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP)	–3.5	0.4	0.7	0.2	0.2
memorandum item:
GDP per hour worked by persons in employment ¹⁾	–1.8	0.9	0.6	–0.8	–0.0
GDP per person in employment	–3.4	0.6	0.8	0.2	0.2
At current prices
Gross national income ¹⁾	–3.5	–0.2	2.9	0.7	–0.4
Net national income (factor costs) ¹⁾	–4.2	–0.4	3.9	0.7	1.3
Compensation of employees ¹⁾	–0.5	–0.2	–0.1	–0.1	1.2
Property and entrepreneurial income ¹⁾	–11.5	–1.0	13.1	2.4	1.5
Disposable income of households ¹⁾	–0.6	1.4	–0.5	0.5	–0.5
Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP in percentage points
Domestic uses	–1.4	–1,0	1,2	–1,4	1,3
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	0.3	0,5	–0,8	–0,1	–0,5
Government final consumption expenditure	0.3	0,1	0,1	0,0	0,2
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	–1.5	0,1	0,1	–0,2	–0,3
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	–1.5	0,0	0,1	–0,1	0,1
GFCF in construction	0.0	0,1	0,1	–0,1	–0,4
Changes in inventories, and so on	–0.5	–1,8	1,7	–1,1	1,9
Balance of exports and imports (net exports)	–2.1	1,5	–0,5	1,6	–1,1

Gross domestic product, gross national income and
net national income (factor costs)
	2009				2010
	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	1st quarter
Change on the same quarter of the preceding year in %
Use of the gross domestic product
At current prices
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	–0.3	0.5	–0.7	0.7	0.7
Government final consumption expenditure	5.3	4.7	5.9	3.5	3.6
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	–11.0	–11.5	–8.3	–7.2	–1.7
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	–21.1	–24.4	–21.9	–19.1	–0.5
GFCF in construction	–3.5	–2.1	1.1	3.0	–2.8
D o m e s t i c u s e s	–1.1	–2.5	–1.7	–2.1	1.5
Exports	–19.0	–23.1	–18.5	–6.5	8.9
Imports	–13.0	–19.1	–17.6	–11.5	5.3
G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP)	–5.0	–5.8	–2.9	–0.3	3.2
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	–0.3	0.4	–0.5	–0.0	–1.2
Government final consumption expenditure	3.4	3.4	4.0	2.7	2.4
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	–11.3	–11.1	–7.4	–6.6	–1.1
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	–20.1	–23.4	–20.8	–17.9	0.8
GFCF in construction	–5.7	–3.0	1.2	2.5	–3.1
D o m e s t i c u s e s	–1.6	–2.7	–1.8	–2.4	0.1
Exports	–16.9	–20.1	–15.5	–4.8	7.5
Imports	–8.0	–12.9	–10.1	–7.1	4.2
G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP)	–6.4	–7.0	–4.7	–1.5	1.7
memorandum item:
GDP per hour worked by persons in employment	–3.9	–2.2	–1.5	–1.1	0.7
GDP per person in employment	–6.8	–7.1	–4.5	–1.1	2.0
At current prices
Gross national income	–5.3	–5.7	–3.2	–0.5	3.1
Net national income (factor costs)	–6.8	–7.1	–3.1	–0.2	5.6
Compensation of employees	1.1	–0.0	–0.6	–0.9	0.9
Property and entrepreneurial income	–19.5	–20.0	–7.5	1.5	15.2
Disposable income of households	–0.1	0.4	–0.4	0.7	0.9
Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP in percentage points
Domestic uses	–1.5	–2.5	–1.7	–2.3	0.1
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	–0.2	0.2	–0.3	0.0	–0.7
Government final consumption expenditure	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.5	0.5
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	–1.9	–2.2	–1.4	–1.3	–0.2
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	–1.5	–1.9	–1.6	–1.6	0.1
GFCF in construction	–0.5	–0.3	0.1	0.2	–0.3
Changes in inventories, and so on	0.0	–1.2	–0.8	–1.5	0.5
Balance of exports and imports (net exports)	–5.0	–4.4	–3.1	0.8	1.6

>>> brief methodological description

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