Press release No. 440 of 14 November 2018
Gross domestic product, 3rd quarter of 2018
-0.2% on the previous quarter (price, seasonally and calendar adjusted)
+1.1% on the same quarter a year earlier (price adjusted)
+1.1% on the same quarter a year earlier (price and calendar adjusted)
WIESBADEN – The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that, in the third quarter of 2018, the gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 0.2% on the second quarter of 2018 after adjustment for price, seasonal and calendar variations. This was the first decline recorded in a quarter-on-quarter comparison since the first quarter of 2015. In the first half of 2018, the GDP had increased, by 0.5% in the second quarter and 0.4% in the first quarter.
The slight quarter-on-quarter decline in the gross domestic product was mainly due to the development of foreign trade. According to provisional calculations, exports were down while imports were up in the third quarter of 2018 compared with the second quarter of the year. As regards domestic demand, there were mixed signals. While gross fixed capital formation both in machinery and equipment and in construction was higher than in the previous quarter, final consumption expenditure of households declined. Government final consumption expenditure was slightly higher than in the previous quarter.
Compared with a year earlier, the price adjusted GDP rose by 1.1% in the third quarter of 2018 (calendar adjusted: +1.1%), following increases of 2.3% in the second quarter (calendar adjusted: +2.0%) and 1.4% in the first quarter of 2018 (calendar adjusted: +2.1%).
The economic performance in the third quarter of 2018 was achieved by 45.0 million persons in employment whose place of employment was in the domestic territory, which was an increase of 556,000 or 1.3% on a year earlier.
In addition to calculating first data for the third quarter of 2018, the results published previously for the first and second quarters of 2018 were also reviewed and, where necessary, new statistical information was incorporated in the calculation of results. Regarding the gross domestic product in the first and second quarters of 2018, there was no need for corrections to the previous results. As is usual for seasonally and calendar adjusted series, however, modified results may appear in the whole time series from 1991 onwards.
| Unadjusted figures | Figures according to Census X-12-ARIMA | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally and calendar-adjusted | Calendar-adjusted 1 | Calendar effect | ||||||
| 2010 = 100 | %2 | 2010 = 100 | %3 | 2010 = 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 previous quarter in %. qtr = quarter | ||||||||
| 2016 | 111.26 | 2.2 | 111.06 | 2.2 | 111.06 | 2.2 | 0.1 | |
| 2017 | 113.66 | 2.2 | 113.79 | 2.5 | 113.79 | 2.5 | -0.3 | |
| 2016 | 1st qtr | 109.68 | 2.0 | 110.49 | 0.9 | 110.27 | 2.4 | -0.4 |
| 2nd qtr | 111.45 | 3.7 | 110.98 | 0.4 | 110.29 | 2.3 | 1.4 | |
| 3rd qtr | 113.05 | 1.9 | 111.17 | 0.2 | 112.93 | 2.0 | -0.1 | |
| 4th qtr | 110.86 | 1.4 | 111.60 | 0.4 | 110.76 | 1.9 | -0.5 | |
| 2017 | 1st qtr | 113.40 | 3.4 | 112.84 | 1.1 | 112.63 | 2.1 | 1.2 |
| 2nd qtr | 112.45 | 0.9 | 113.46 | 0.5 | 112.76 | 2.2 | -1.3 | |
| 3rd qtr | 115.50 | 2.2 | 114.12 | 0.6 | 115.91 | 2.6 | -0.5 | |
| 4th qtr | 113.27 | 2.2 | 114.73 | 0.5 | 113.85 | 2.8 | -0.6 | |
| 2018 | 1st qtr | 114.95 | 1.4 | 115.15 | 0.4 | 114.97 | 2.1 | -0.7 |
| 2nd qtr | 115.09 | 2.3 | 115.67 | 0.5 | 114.98 | 2.0 | 0.4 | |
| 3rd qtr | 116.77 | 1.1 | 115.44 | -0.2 | 117.24 | 1.1 | -0.0 | |
| Unadjusted figures | Seasonally and calendar-adjusted figures according to Census X-12-ARIMA | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUR bn. | Change in % 1 | EUR bn. | Change in %2 | ||
1Change on the previous year or the same quarter of the preceding year in %. qtr = quarter | |||||
| 2016 | 3,159.750 | 3.6 | 3,154.109 | 3.6 | |
| 2017 | 3,277.340 | 3.7 | 3,281.332 | 4.0 | |
| 2016 | 1st qtr | 770.400 | 3.7 | 782.405 | 1.4 |
| 2nd qtr | 789.220 | 5.2 | 786.938 | 0.6 | |
| 3rd qtr | 799.880 | 3.1 | 788.846 | 0.2 | |
| 4th qtr | 800.250 | 2.6 | 795.920 | 0.9 | |
| 2017 | 1st qtr | 803.370 | 4.3 | 806.315 | 1.3 |
| 2nd qtr | 808.720 | 2.5 | 816.786 | 1.3 | |
| 3rd qtr | 833.240 | 4.2 | 825.711 | 1.1 | |
| 4th qtr | 832.010 | 4.0 | 832.520 | 0.8 | |
| 2018 | 1st qtr | 828.980 | 3.2 | 837.921 | 0.6 |
| 2nd qtr | 842.860 | 4.2 | 847.628 | 1.2 | |
| 3rd qtr | 858.380 | 3.0 | 851.208 | 0.4 | |
More detailed results will be released by the Federal Statistical Office on 23 November 2018.
A long time series with quarterly results on the gross domestic product starting with the first quarter of 1970 is available here.
>>> brief methodological description
