Press release No. 050 of 14 February 2017
WIESBADEN – The German economy continued its moderate growth at the end of 2016. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.4% on the previous quarter after adjustment for price, seasonal and calendar variations. The economic situation in Germany in 2016 thus was characterised by solid and steady growth (+0.7% in the first quarter, +0.5% in the second quarter and +0.1% in the third quarter). The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that this results in a 1.9% increase (calendar-adjusted: +1.8%) for the whole year of 2016. The provisional annual GDP result released in January has been confirmed.
The quarter-on-quarter comparison (upon adjustment for price, seasonal and calendar variations) shows that positive contributions came from domestic demand. General government final consumption expenditure was markedly up, while household final consumption expenditure rose slightly again. A largely positive development was also observed for capital formation. Especially fixed capital formation in construction was markedly up on the third quarter of 2016. According to provisional calculations, the development of foreign trade, however, had a downward effect on growth because the price-adjusted quarter-on-quarter increase in imports was markedly larger than that of exports.
Measured by unadjusted figures, economic growth accelerated year on year, too. The price-adjusted GDP rose by 1.2% (calendar-adjusted: 1.7%) in the fourth quarter of 2016, following increases of 1.5% in the third quarter of 2016 (calendar-adjusted: 1.7%) and 3.2% in the second quarter of 2016 (calendar-adjusted: 1.8%).
The statistical carry-over effect at the end of 2016 is +0.5%. This is the rate of GDP change which would be obtained for 2017 if the seasonally and calendar-adjusted GDP remained at the level of the fourth quarter of 2016 for all quarters.
The economic performance in the fourth quarter of 2016 was achieved by 43.7 million persons in employment, which was an increase of 267,000, or 0.6%, on a year earlier.
In addition to calculating first data for the fourth quarter of 2016, the Federal Statistical Office revised the national accounting results published previously for the first three quarters and the year of 2016. This resulted in slight corrections of the rates of change of the price-adjusted gross domestic product.
| 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 | ||||||||
| 2015 | 108.18 | 1.7 | 108.09 | 1.5 | 108.09 | 1.5 | 0.2 | |
| 2016 | 110.19 | 1.9 | 110.01 | 1.8 | 110.00 | 1.8 | 0.1 | |
| 2015 | 1st qtr | 106.89 | 1.3 | 107.44 | 0.2 | 107.05 | 1.2 | 0.1 |
| 2nd qtr | 106.89 | 1.8 | 108.00 | 0.5 | 107.20 | 1.8 | –0.0 | |
| 3rd qtr | 110.35 | 1.8 | 108.26 | 0.2 | 110.13 | 1.7 | 0.1 | |
| 4th qtr | 108.59 | 2.1 | 108.65 | 0.4 | 107.97 | 1.3 | 0.8 | |
| 2016 | 1st qtr | 108.50 | 1.5 | 109.43 | 0.7 | 109.05 | 1.9 | –0.4 |
| 2nd qtr | 110.28 | 3.2 | 109.94 | 0.5 | 109.15 | 1.8 | 1.3 | |
| 3rd qtr | 112.05 | 1.5 | 110.09 | 0.1 | 111.96 | 1.7 | –0.1 | |
| 4th qtr | 109.94 | 1.2 | 110.56 | 0.4 | 109.85 | 1.7 | –0.5 | |
| 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 %. qtr = quarter | |||||
| 2015 | 3,032.820 | 3.7 | 3,030.124 | 3.5 | |
| 2016 | 3,132.670 | 3.3 | 3,127.251 | 3.2 | |
2015 | 1st qtr | 739.410 | 3.2 | 747.687 | 0.8 |
| 2nd qtr | 745.990 | 3.8 | 755.934 | 1.1 | |
| 3rd qtr | 771.660 | 3.7 | 759.597 | 0.5 | |
| 4th qtr | 775.760 | 4.2 | 766.906 | 1.0 | |
| 2016 | 1st qtr | 763.180 | 3.2 | 774.307 | 1.0 |
| 2nd qtr | 780.760 | 4.7 | 780.477 | 0.8 | |
| 3rd qtr | 793.610 | 2.8 | 782.494 | 0.3 | |
| 4th qtr | 795.120 | 2.5 | 789.973 | 1.0 | |
| New result | Previous result | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| chain index (2010 = 100) | percentage change1 | chain index (2010 = 100) | percentage change1 | ||
| 1Seasonally and calendar-adjusted figures: Change on the previous year or the same quarter of the preceding year in %. Unadjusted figures: Change on the previous year or the same quarter of the preceding year in %. qtr = quarter | |||||
| Seasonally and calendar-adjusted figures according to Census X-12-ARIMA | |||||
| 2015 | 108.09 | 1.5 | 108.09 | 1.5 | |
| 2016 | 110.01 | 1.8 | 110.02 | 1.8 | |
| 2015 | 1st qtr | 107.44 | 0.2 | 107.44 | 0.2 |
| 2nd qtr | 108.00 | 0.5 | 108.00 | 0.5 | |
| 3rd qtr | 108.26 | 0.2 | 108.26 | 0.2 | |
| 4th qtr | 108.65 | 0.4 | 108.65 | 0.4 | |
| 2016 | 1st qtr | 109.43 | 0.7 | 109.42 | 0.7 |
| 2nd qtr | 109.94 | 0.5 | 109.87 | 0.4 | |
| 3rd qtr | 110.09 | 0.1 | 110.08 | 0.2 | |
| 4th qtr | 110.56 | 0.4 | x | x | |
| Unadjusted figures | |||||
| 2015 | 108.18 | 1.7 | 108.18 | 1.7 | |
| 2016 | 110.19 | 1.9 | 110.21 | 1.9 | |
| 2015 | 1st qtr | 106.89 | 1.3 | 106.89 | 1.3 |
| 2nd qtr | 106.89 | 1.8 | 106.89 | 1.8 | |
| 3rd qtr | 110.35 | 1.8 | 110.35 | 1.8 | |
| 4th qtr | 108.59 | 2.1 | 108.59 | 2.1 | |
| 2016 | 1st qtr | 108.50 | 1.5 | 108.50 | 1.5 |
| 2nd qtr | 110.28 | 3.2 | 110.22 | 3.1 | |
| 3rd qtr | 112.05 | 1.5 | 112.05 | 1.5 | |
| 4th qtr | 109.94 | 1.2 | x | x | |
Detailed results will be released by the Federal Statistical Office on 23 February 2017.
A long time series with quarterly results on the gross domestic product starting with the first quarter of 1970 is available here.