Press release No. 291 of 24 August 2016

WIESBADEN – Germany's economy has continued to grow, but at a slightly slower pace. As the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) already reported in its first release of 12 August 2016, the gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.4% (after price, seasonal and calendar adjustment) in the second quarter of 2016 compared with the first quarter of 2016. At the beginning of 2016, GDP growth had been strong at 0.7%.

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

2014				2015				2016
1st qtr	2nd qtr	3rd qtr	4th qtr	1st qtr	2nd qtr	3rd qtr	4th qtr	1st qtr	2nd qtr
0.6	–0.1	0.3	0.8	0.2	0.5	0.2	0.4	0.7	0.4

A quarter-on-quarter comparison following price, seasonal and calendar adjustment shows that, on the use side of the gross domestic product, positive contributions mainly came from the balance of exports and imports. According to provisional calculations, exports of goods and services rose by a total of 1.2% compared with the first quarter of 2016. Imports declined by 0.1% in the same period. Arithmetically, the balance of exports and imports provided the strongest contribution to GDP growth in the reference period, contributing +0.6 percentage points. 

As regards domestic demand, there were mixed signals. The final consumption expenditure of households rose slightly by 0.2% and government final consumption expenditure increased by 0.6% on the previous quarter. Capital formation, however, declined compared with the first quarter. Fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment decreased by 2.4% and in construction by 1.6% on the first quarter of 2016. In addition, inventories were reduced slightly, which had a negative impact on GDP growth, too (–0.1 percentage points). Overall, domestic uses fell slightly compared with the first three months of the year and reduced economic growth by –0.2 percentage points in arithmetical terms. 

The following information refers to the year-on-year comparison:

Economic growth accelerated in a year-on-year comparison. The price-adjusted GDP was up by 3.1% in the second quarter of 2016, which was the largest increase in five years. However, mainly due to the timing of public holidays, there were three more working days in the reference quarter than in the previous year, which produced an exceptionally strong calendar effect. Accordingly, the calendar-adjusted growth rate of the price-adjusted GDP was 1.8% in the second quarter of 2016 and just short of the 1.9% calendar-adjusted growth rate in the first quarter of 2016 (unadjusted: + 1.5%).

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

2014				2015				2016
1st qtr	2nd qtr	3rd qtr	4th qtr	1st qtr	2nd qtr	3rd qtr	4th qtr	1st qtr	2nd qtr
2.6	0.9	1.2	1.7	1.3	1.8	1.8	2.1	1.5	3.1

The economic performance in the second quarter of 2016 was achieved by 43.5 million persons in employment whose place of employment was in Germany. This was an increase of 529,000, or 1.2%, on a year earlier (see press release 286/16 of 18 August 2016). 

According to provisional calculations, the overall labour productivity of persons in employment was down by 0.2% on the previous year when measured as the price-adjusted gross domestic product per hour, whereas it increased by 1.9% when calculated per person in employment. 

In a year-on-year comparison, too, foreign trade contributed to economic growth in the second quarter of 2016. In price-adjusted terms, exports of goods and services increased by 4.9% on the previous year. Imports did not rise as strongly (+4.5%) over that period. Arithmetically, the balance of exports and imports contributed +0.6 percentage points to year-on-year GDP growth.

Positive contributions came from domestic demand, too, in the longer year-on-year comparison. Household final consumption expenditure increased by 2.4%, while government final consumption expenditure was up by as much as 3.9%. Capital formation increased, too. Compared with the second quarter of 2015, gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment grew by 4.4% (price-adjusted). Gross fixed capital formation in construction was up, too (+5.1%), particularly in dwellings. Only the reduction of inventories slowed Gross domestic product growth (–0.4 percentage points).

On the production side of the gross domestic product, the price-adjusted gross value added was higher in all economic sectors than in the previous year. The highest growth rates were recorded for construction (+5.2%), manufacturing (+4.6%) and business services (+4.5%). On the whole, the price-adjusted gross value added of all economic sectors was up by 3.2% on the second quarter of 2015.

At current prices, the gross domestic product increased by 4.6% and the gross national income by 4.7% in the second quarter of 2016 compared with the second quarter of 2015. Net national income at factor costs rose by a total 5.3%. According to first provisional calculations, the increase was much higher in property and entrepreneurial income (+9.8%) than in compensation of employees (+3.4%). Gross wages and salaries of employees rose by 3.5% and net wages and salaries by 3.7% on the second quarter of 2015. The average wages and salaries per employee did not rise that much (2.1% in gross terms and 2.3% in net terms) because the number of employees was up as well (+1.4%) compared with the same quarter a year earlier. The disposable income of households increased by 3.0%, this rise being slightly higher than that of household final consumption expenditure at current prices (+2.8%). 

As every year in August, the Federal Statistical Office reviewed and revised, where necessary, the results of national accounts published previously for the last four years (from 2012) and the first quarter of 2016 in the context of the first calculation of data for the second quarter of 2016. 

As reported in the first release of 12 August 2016, this resulted in slight corrections of the rates of change of the price-adjusted gross domestic product. Significant corrections were however made regarding individual GDP components. As is usual for seasonally and calendar-adjusted series, modified results may also appear in the whole time series from 1991 onwards.

National accounts data may be accessed via the Destatis website. More detailed results are published in Fachserie 18 "National Accounts", Series 1.2 “Quarterly results“ and Series 1.3 “Seasonally adjusted quarterly results using Census X-12-ARIMA and BV 4.1”. The above and other publications can be downloaded from National accounts. A detailed quality report on national accounts is available at the internet.  

Gross domestic product

		Unadjusted figures				Figures according to Census X-12-ARIMA price-adjusted, chain-linked
		At current prices		Price-adjusted, chain-linked		Seasonally and calendar-adjusted		calendar-adjusted
		EUR billion	% 1	2010 = 100	% 1	2010 = 100	% 2	% 1 3
1 Change on the previous year or the same quarter of the preceding year in %. 2 Change on the previous year or quarter in %. 3 As for years, the calendar-adjusted values equal the seasonally and calendar-adjusted values (except for differences due to rounding). qtr = quarter
2012		2,758.26	2.0	104.17	0.5	104.22	0.7	0.7
2013		2,826.24	2.5	104.68	0.5	104.84	0.6	0.6
2014		2,923.93	3.5	106.35	1.6	106.51	1.6	1.6
2015		3,032.82	3.7	108.18	1.7	108.09	1.5	1.5
2012	1st qtr	682.73	3.0	104.40	1.6	104.17	0.4	1.1
	2nd qtr	678.15	1.8	103.14	0.4	104.26	0.1	0.9
	3rd qtr	701.30	1.8	105.96	0.2	104.47	0.2	0.7
	4th qtr	696.08	1.6	103.19	–  0.1	103.97	–  0.5	0.1
2013	1st qtr	685.46	0.4	102.87	–  1.5	103.79	–  0.2	–  0.3
	2nd qtr	698.33	3.0	104.04	0.9	104.74	0.9	0.5
	3rd qtr	723.16	3.1	107.19	1.2	105.21	0.4	0.7
	4th qtr	719.29	3.3	104.60	1.4	105.60	0.4	1.5
2014	1st qtr	716.38	4.5	105.55	2.6	106.23	0.6	2.4
	2nd qtr	718.53	2.9	105.02	0.9	106.12	–  0.1	1.3
	3rd qtr	744.38	2.9	108.43	1.2	106.42	0.3	1.1
	4th qtr	744.64	3.5	106.38	1.7	107.26	0.8	1.6
2015	1st qtr	739.41	3.2	106.89	1.3	107.44	0.2	1.2
	2nd qtr	745.99	3.8	106.89	1.8	108.00	0.5	1.8
	3rd qtr	771.66	3.7	110.35	1.8	108.26	0.2	1.7
	4th qtr	775.76	4.2	108.59	2.1	108.65	0.4	1.3
2016	1st qtr	763.18	3.2	108.50	1.5	109.42	0.7	1.9
	2nd qtr	780.34	4.6	110.22	3.1	109.87	0.4	1.8

 

Use of the gross domestic product
Unadjusted figures 

	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
					1st qtr	2nd qtr
qtr = quarter
At current prices
EUR bn
Consumption expenditure	2,057.742	2,107.888	2,155.414	2,219.674	547.386	568.428
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	1,538.029	1,565.656	1,594.361	1,635.974	398.490	419.047
Government final consumption expenditure	519.713	542.232	561.053	583.700	148.896	149.381
Gross capital formation	532.531	549.961	577.789	583.607	157.283	139.775
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	554.746	557.119	585.147	603.820	142.066	160.844
GFCF in machinery and equipment	183.821	180.489	191.461	200.179	47.159	51.513
GFCF in construction	273.006	277.164	288.702	295.021	67.588	81.547
GFCF in other products	97.919	99.466	104.984	108.620	27.319	27.784
Domestic uses	2,590.273	2,657.849	2,733.203	2,803.281	704.669	708.203
Exports	1,268.318	1,284.744	1,334.833	1,418.789	347.005	367.178
Imports	1,100.331	1,116.353	1,144.106	1,189.250	288.494	295.041
Gross domestic product (GDP)	2,758.260	2,826.240	2,923.930	3,032.820	763.180	780.340
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
Change on the previous year in %
Consumption expenditure	1.3	0.9	1.0	2.2	2.4	2.8
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	1.3	0.7	0.9	2.0	1.7	2.4
Government final consumption expenditure	1.1	1.2	1.2	2.7	4.4	3.9
Gross capital formation	–  8.2	1.3	3.2	–  0.6	1.1	2.9
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	–  0.7	–  1.1	3.4	1.7	2.9	4.4
GFCF in machinery and equipment	–  3.2	–  2.1	5.5	3.7	4.0	4.4
GFCF in construction	0.5	–  1.1	1.9	0.3	2.4	5.1
GFCF in other products	1.1	0.6	4.0	1.9	2.4	2.7
Domestic uses	–  0.8	0.9	1.4	1.6	2.1	2.8
Exports	2.8	1.9	4.1	5.2	1.6	4.9
Imports	–  0.1	3.1	4.0	5.5	3.1	4.5
Gross domestic product (GDP)	0.5	0.5	1.6	1.7	1.5	3.1
memorandum item:
GDP per person in employment	–  0.7	–  0.1	0.8	0.8	0.2	1.9
GDP per hour worked by persons in employment	0.6	0.8	0.4	0.8	1.3	–  0.2
Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP in percentage points
Consumption expenditure	0.9	0.6	0.7	1.6	1.7	2.0
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	0.7	0.4	0.5	1.1	0.9	1.3
Government final consumption expenditure	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.5	0.8	0.7
Gross capital formation	–  1.7	0.2	0.6	–  0.1	0.2	0.5
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	–  0.1	–  0.2	0.7	0.3	0.5	0.9
GFCF in machinery and equipment	–  0.2	–  0.1	0.4	0.2	0.2	0.3
GFCF in construction	0.1	–  0.1	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.5
GFCF in other products	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Changes in inventories and so on	–  1.6	0.5	–  0.1	–  0.5	–  0.3	–  0.4
Domestic uses	–  0.8	0.9	1.3	1.5	2.0	2.6
Balance of exports and imports (net exports)	1.3	–  0.4	0.3	0.2	–  0.5	0.6

 

 Use of the gross domestic product
Seasonally and calendar-adjusted figures according to Census X-12-ARIMA

	2015				2016
	1st qtr	2nd qtr	3rd qtr	4th qtr	1st qtr	2nd qtr
1 Only seasonally adjusted. qtr = quarter
At current prices
EUR bn
Consumption expenditure	547.492	553.510	557.292	561.922	565.300	568.954
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	404.632	408.338	410.742	412.803	413.851	415.942
Government final consumption expenditure	142.860	145.172	146.550	149.119	151.449	153.012
Gross capital formation	145.249	142.767	144.519	149.021	149.083	147.306
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	149.128	149.619	150.248	153.372	156.378	154.706
GFCF in machinery and equipment	48.655	49.637	49.973	51.099	51.762	50.571
GFCF in construction	73.648	72.958	73.000	74.777	76.782	76.017
GFCF in other products	26.825	27.024	27.275	27.496	27.834	28.118
Domestic uses	692.741	696.277	701.811	710.943	714.383	716.260
Exports	348.900	357.639	356.320	352.562	355.407	358.474
Imports	293.954	297.982	298.534	296.599	295.512	294.707
Gross domestic product (GDP)	747.687	755.934	759.597	766.906	774.278	780.027
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
Change on the previous quarter in %
Consumption expenditure	0.4	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.3
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	0.4	0.4	0.6	0.4	0.3	0.2
Government final consumption expenditure	0.4	1.0	0.7	1.2	1.3	0.6
Gross capital formation	–  0.0	–  2.5	1.4	2.5	0.1	–  2.1
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	0.5	0.1	0.1	1.7	1.7	–  1.5
GFCF in machinery and equipment	–  0.1	1.8	0.4	1.8	1.2	–  2.4
GFCF in construction	0.9	–  1.3	–  0.3	2.0	2.3	–  1.6
GFCF in other products	0.8	0.4	0.6	0.4	0.9	0.7
Domestic uses	0.3	–  0.0	0.8	1.0	0.5	–  0.2
Exports	1.0	1.6	–  0.0	–  0.7	1.6	1.2
Imports	1.4	0.4	1.1	0.6	1.3	–  0.1
Gross domestic product (GDP)	0.2	0.5	0.2	0.4	0.7	0.4
memorandum item:
GDP per person in employment	–  0.1	0.2	–  0.0	0.0	0.4	0.1
GDP per hour worked by persons in employment 1	0.1	0.4	0.1	–  0.3	1.1	–  1.1
Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP in percentage points
Consumption expenditure	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.2
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.1
Government final consumption expenditure	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.3	0.1
Gross capital formation	0.0	–  0.5	0.3	0.5	0.0	–  0.4
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	–  0.3
GFCF in machinery and equipment	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.1	–  0.2
GFCF in construction	0.1	–  0.1	0.0	0.2	0.2	–  0.2
GFCF in other products	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Changes in inventories and so on	–  0.1	–  0.5	0.3	0.1	–  0.3	–  0.1
Domestic uses	0.3	0.0	0.7	0.9	0.5	–  0.2
Balance of exports and imports (net exports)	–  0.1	0.6	–  0.5	–  0.6	0.3	0.6

  

Gross value added by economic sector

	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
					1st qtr	2nd qtr
qtr = quarter
At current prices
EUR bn
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	19.388	24.005	20.436	17.351	4.267	4.534
Industry, excluding construction	650.111	654.188	685.143	707.459	177.198	184.481
including:
Manufacturing	563.279	572.186	604.487	622.608	154.320	164.190
Construction	110.962	113.247	118.196	124.755	26.547	34.288
Trade, transport, accommodation and food services	386.919	395.395	413.879	430.167	102.888	113.488
Information and communication	116.418	120.539	125.372	131.632	34.256	33.318
Financial and insurance activities	108.418	109.293	109.951	110.930	27.529	27.688
Real estate activities	278.631	286.891	285.979	297.278	77.017	76.367
Business services	264.606	276.838	289.623	303.258	78.704	76.863
Public services, education, health	442.779	459.011	476.643	497.154	128.340	125.865
Other services	100.364	103.221	106.046	109.678	28.115	27.659
Gross value added, total	2,478.596	2,542.628	2,631.268	2,729.662	684.861	704.551
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
Change on the previous year in %
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	–  0.8	4.0	–  12.5	–  3.2	1.2	1.4
Industry, excluding construction	–  0.3	–  0.4	5.0	1.6	0.9	3.9
including:
Manufacturing	–  2.2	0.1	5.5	1.3	1.1	4.6
Construction	–  1.1	–  2.3	1.4	–  0.2	1.0	5.2
Trade, transport, accommodation and food services	2.9	–  0.7	0.4	1.9	1.2	3.8
Information and communication	4.2	3.8	4.8	2.5	2.4	2.9
Financial and insurance activities	0.9	9.7	–  4.8	0.7	1.5	1.8
Real estate activities	–  1.9	1.7	–  1.5	0.9	0.5	0.8
Business services	1.2	0.5	2.4	2.3	2.3	4.5
Public services, education,health	0.7	0.1	0.7	2.0	1.6	2.4
Other services	–  0.5	–  1.7	–  0.5	0.3	0.2	2.1
Gross value added, total	0.6	0.5	1.5	1.6	1.2	3.2

  

Distribution of gross national income

	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
					1st qtr	2nd qtr
qtr = quarter
At current prices
EUR bn
Gross national income	2,822.947	2,893.930	2,988.943	3,098.834	783.431	783.932
Net national income (factor costs)	2,054.548	2,107.767	2,179.538	2,263.202	570.065	571.136
Compensation of employees	1,391.204	1,430.040	1,485.450	1,539.852	373.125	390.048
Property and entrepreneurial income	663.344	677.727	694.088	723.350	196.940	181.088
Gross wages and salaries of employees	1,133.020	1,167.519	1,212.986	1,260.618	304.988	319.416
Net wages and salaries of employees	756.840	778.429	807.118	836.563	201.837	207.551
memorandum item:
Disposable income of households	1,647.677	1,672.478	1,710.149	1,763.082	446.066	450.511
Savings ratio (in %)	9.3	9.0	9.4	9.7	13.0	9.4
Change on the previous year in %
Gross national income	1.9	2.5	3.3	3.7	3.4	4.7
Net national income (factor costs)	1.3	2.6	3.4	3.8	3.3	5.3
Compensation of employees	3.8	2.8	3.9	3.7	4.1	3.4
Property and entrepreneurial income	–  3.6	2.2	2.4	4.2	1.9	9.8
Gross wages and salaries of employees	4.1	3.0	3.9	3.9	4.4	3.5
Net wages and salaries of employees	3.8	2.9	3.7	3.6	4.2	3.7
memorandum item:
Disposable income of households	2.4	1.5	2.3	3.1	2.3	3.0