Press release No. 062 of 23 February 2017
-WIESBADEN – The German economy continued its moderate growth at the end of 2016. As the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) already reported in its first release of 14 February 2017, the gross domestic product (GDP) increased 0.4% – upon price, seasonal and calendar adjustment – in the fourth quarter of 2016 compared with the previous quarter. 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). For the whole year of 2016, this was an increase of 1.9% (calendar-adjusted: +1.8%). The provisional annual GDP result released in January has thus been confirmed.
| 2015 | 2016 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr |
| +0.2 | +0.5 | +0.2 | +0.4 | +0.7 | +0.5 | +0.1 | +0.4 |
The quarter-on-quarter comparison (upon adjustment for price, seasonal and calendar variations) shows that positive contributions came mainly from domestic demand. The final consumption expenditure of general government rose by 0.8% and household final consumption expenditure increased by 0.3% on the third quarter of 2016. A largely positive development was also observed for capital formation. Especially gross fixed capital formation in construction was up (+1.6%) on the previous quarter. Gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment fell slightly (–0.1%) on the previous quarter. On the whole, domestic uses rose by 0.9% (upon price, seasonal and calendar adjustment) compared with the third quarter of 2016.
According to provisional calculations, the development of foreign trade, however, had a downward effect on growth because the price, seasonally and calendar-adjusted increase in imports on the previous quarter (+3.1%) was markedly larger than the increase in exports (+1.8%). Consequently, the balance of exports and imports of goods and services as a whole, in arithmetical terms, had a negative effect on GDP growth (–0.4 percentage points).
The following information refers to the year-on-year comparison:
Measured by unadjusted figures, economic growth on a year earlier slowed since summer. The price-adjusted GDP rose by 1.2% in the fourth quarter of 2016, following increases of 1.5% in the third quarter of 2016 and 3.2% in the second quarter of 2016. However, in the last quarter of 2016 there was one working day less than a year earlier. Consequently, the calendar-adjusted increase (+1.7%) was similar to that in the third (+1.7%) and second quarter (+1.8%).
| 2015 | 2016 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr |
| +1.3 | +1.8 | +1.8 | +2.1 | +1.5 | +3.2 | +1.5 | +1.2 |
According to provisional calculations, 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.
Overall labour productivity (price-adjusted gross domestic product per hour worked by persons in employment) was markedly above the level of the previous year (+1.8%) according to first provisional calculations. Measured per person in employment, it rose by 0.6%.
Also in a year-on-year comparison, contributions to growth were mainly made by domestic demand in the fourth quarter of 2016. Household final consumption expenditure increased by 1.5%, while government final consumption expenditure was up by as much as 3.2%. Gross fixed capital formation in construction grew by 1.3% with a particularly significant year-on-year increase for gross fixed capital formation in dwellings. Capital formation in other buildings and structures, however, was down. This development is due to a decrease in industrial construction, whereas public construction grew slightly. Gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment fell a price-adjusted 2.6% on the fourth quarter of 2015. On the whole, however, domestic uses were up 1.6% on a year earlier.
The development of foreign trade had a downward effect on growth also in a year-on-year comparison. In price-adjusted terms, exports of goods and services rose by 3.3% compared with the previous year. There was however a larger increase in imports (+4.5%) in the same period. Consequently, the balance of exports and imports had a downward effect, in arithmetical terms, of –0.2 percentage points on GDP growth compared with the previous year.
On the production side of the gross domestic product, the price-adjusted gross value added was higher in all economic sectors in the last quarter of 2016 than a year earlier. The highest growth rates were recorded for financial and insurance activities (+3.9%) as well as for information and communication services (+2.9%). The price-adjusted year-on-year increase in manufacturing was below average (+0.5%). On the whole, the price-adjusted gross value added of all economic sectors was up by 1.4% on the fourth quarter of 2015.
At current prices, the gross domestic product increased by 2.5% and the gross national income by 2.1% in the fourth quarter of 2016 compared with the fourth quarter of 2015. Net national income at factor costs, consisting of compensation of employees (+3.1%) and property and entrepreneurial income (+0.2%), rose by a total of 2.3%, according to first provisional calculations. Gross wages and salaries of employees were up by 3.1% and net wages and salaries by 2.0% on a year earlier. On average, wages and salaries per employee did not rise that much (2.4% in gross terms and 1.4% in net terms) because the number of employees was up as well (+0.7%) compared with the same quarter a year earlier. The disposable income of households increased by 2.8%, this rise being slightly higher than that of household final consumption expenditure at current prices (+2.6%).
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. As reported in the first release of 14 February 2017, 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.
| 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 | ||||||||
| 2015 | 3,032.82 | 3.7 | 108.18 | 1.7 | 108.09 | 1.5 | 1.5 | |
| 2016 | 3,132.67 | 3.3 | 110.19 | 1.9 | 110.01 | 1.8 | 1.8 | |
| 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 | 109.43 | 0.7 | 1.9 |
| 2nd qtr | 780.76 | 4.7 | 110.28 | 3.2 | 109.94 | 0.5 | 1.8 | |
| 3rd qtr | 793.61 | 2.8 | 112.05 | 1.5 | 110.09 | 0.1 | 1.7 | |
| 4th qtr | 795.12 | 2.5 | 109.94 | 1.2 | 110.56 | 0.4 | 1.7 | |
| 2016 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4 th qtr | |
| At current prices EUR bn. | |||||
| Consumption expenditure | 2,295.270 | 549.243 | 571.234 | 576.687 | 598.106 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 1,679.156 | 400.075 | 420.763 | 426.535 | 431.783 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 616.114 | 149.168 | 150.471 | 150.152 | 166.323 |
| Gross capital formation | 598.648 | 156.384 | 138.966 | 164.267 | 139.031 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 626.710 | 142.483 | 161.124 | 159.924 | 163.179 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 204.409 | 47.171 | 51.519 | 48.503 | 57.216 |
| GFCF in construction | 309.395 | 67.993 | 81.820 | 83.243 | 76.339 |
| GFCF in other products | 112.906 | 27.319 | 27.785 | 28.178 | 29.624 |
| Domestic uses | 2,893.918 | 705.627 | 710.200 | 740.954 | 737.137 |
| Exports | 1,441.387 | 346.140 | 366.431 | 358.257 | 370.559 |
| Imports | 1,202.635 | 288.587 | 295.871 | 305.601 | 312.576 |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | 3,132.670 | 763.180 | 780.760 | 793.610 | 795.120 |
| Price-adjusted, chain-linked Change on the previous year in % | |||||
| Consumption expenditure | 2.5 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 2.1 | 1.9 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 2.0 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 4.0 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 3.7 | 3.2 |
| Gross capital formation | 1.3 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 1.8 | 0.2 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 2.3 | 3.2 | 4.6 | 1.4 | 0.1 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 1.1 | 3.9 | 4.4 | –0.5 | –2.6 |
| GFCF in construction | 3.0 | 3.0 | 5.4 | 2.1 | 1.3 |
| GFCF in other products | 2.6 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.5 |
| Domestic uses | 2.3 | 2.3 | 3.1 | 2.0 | 1.6 |
| Exports | 2.6 | 1.3 | 4.6 | 1.3 | 3.3 |
| Imports | 3.7 | 3.2 | 4.8 | 2.4 | 4.5 |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | 1.9 | 1.5 | 3.2 | 1.5 | 1.2 |
| memorandum item: | |||||
| GDP per person in employment | 0.9 | 0.2 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 0.6 |
| GDP per hour worked by persons in employment | 1.2 | 1.7 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.8 |
| Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP in percentage points | |||||
| Consumption expenditure | 1.8 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.6 |
| Gross capital formation | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 | –0.2 |
| GFCF in other products | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Other fixed assets | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Changes in inventories and so on | –0.2 | –0.4 | –0.5 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Domestic uses | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.9 | 1.9 | 1.5 |
| Balance of exports and imports (net exports) | –0.2 | –0.6 | 0.3 | –0.4 | –0.2 |
| 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | |
| 1 Only seasonally adjusted. qtr = quarter | ||||
| At current prices EUR bn. | ||||
| Consumption expenditure | 567.176 | 571.167 | 573.746 | 580.474 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 415.452 | 417.627 | 419.496 | 423.874 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 151.724 | 153.540 | 154.250 | 156.600 |
| Gross capital formation | 148.232 | 147.117 | 149.542 | 153.718 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 156.670 | 154.900 | 155.265 | 157.283 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 51.686 | 50.490 | 50.476 | 50.612 |
| GFCF in construction | 77.149 | 76.291 | 76.418 | 78.090 |
| GFCF in other products | 27.835 | 28.119 | 28.371 | 28.581 |
| Domestic uses | 715.408 | 718.284 | 723.288 | 734.192 |
| Exports | 354.473 | 357.675 | 357.383 | 365.998 |
| Imports | 295.574 | 295.482 | 298.177 | 310.217 |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | 774.307 | 780.477 | 782.494 | 789.973 |
| Price-adjusted, chain-linked Change on the previous quarter in % | ||||
| Consumption expenditure | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.5 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.8 |
| Gross capital formation | –0.0 | –1.8 | 1.5 | 2.4 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 1.8 | –1.5 | –0.2 | 0.8 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 0.9 | –2.3 | –0.5 | –0.1 |
| GFCF in construction | 2.7 | –1.7 | –0.3 | 1.6 |
| GFCF in other products | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Domestic uses | 0.7 | –0.1 | 0.5 | 0.9 |
| Exports | 1.4 | 1.2 | –0.3 | 1.8 |
| Imports | 1.4 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 3.1 |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| memorandum item: | ||||
| GDP per person in employment | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| GDP per hour worked by persons in employment 1 | 1.6 | –1.0 | 0.7 | 0.6 |
| Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP in percentage points | ||||
| Consumption expenditure | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Gross capital formation | 0.0 | –0.4 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 0.4 | –0.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 0.1 | –0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| GFCF in construction | 0.3 | –0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| GFCF in other products | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Changes in inventories and so on | –0.4 | –0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Domestic uses | 0.6 | –0.1 | 0.5 | 0.8 |
| Balance of exports and imports (net exports) | 0.1 | 0.5 | –0.3 | –0.4 |
| 2016 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | |
| At current prices EUR bn. | |||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 17.935 | 4.248 | 4.505 | 4.530 | 4.652 |
| Industry, excluding construction | 723.616 | 177.451 | 184.893 | 181.683 | 179.589 |
| including: | |||||
| Manufacturing | 638.060 | 154.721 | 164.394 | 161.258 | 157.687 |
| Construction | 135.466 | 26.683 | 34.430 | 36.000 | 38.353 |
| Trade, transport, accommodation and food services | 443.084 | 103.011 | 114.106 | 112.904 | 113.063 |
| Information and communication | 137.253 | 34.281 | 33.573 | 35.246 | 34.153 |
| Financial and insurance activities | 110.838 | 27.684 | 27.724 | 27.698 | 27.732 |
| Real estate activities | 306.790 | 77.018 | 76.381 | 78.229 | 75.162 |
| Business services | 315.060 | 78.183 | 76.303 | 81.801 | 78.773 |
| Public services, education, health | 517.293 | 128.188 | 125.369 | 128.455 | 135.281 |
| Other services | 113.673 | 28.100 | 27.681 | 29.157 | 28.735 |
| Gross value added, total | 2,821.008 | 684.847 | 704.965 | 715.703 | 715.493 |
| Price-adjusted, chain-linked Change on the previous year in % | |||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.7 | –0.5 | 0.3 |
| Industry, excluding construction | 1.6 | 0.9 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 |
| including: | |||||
| Manufacturing | 1.9 | 1.2 | 4.6 | 1.2 | 0.5 |
| Construction | 2.8 | 1.7 | 5.6 | 2.0 | 1.7 |
| Trade, transport, accommodation and food services | 2.4 | 1.3 | 4.3 | 1.7 | 2.1 |
| Information and communication | 3.1 | 2.5 | 4.1 | 3.1 | 2.9 |
| Financial and insurance activities | 2.5 | 2.2 | 1.4 | 2.4 | 3.9 |
| Real estate activities | 0.8 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.8 |
| Business services | 2.1 | 1.6 | 3.7 | 1.8 | 1.3 |
| Public services, education, health | 1.7 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 1.8 | 1.4 |
| Other services | 1.1 | 0.1 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| Gross value added, total | 1.8 | 1.2 | 3.2 | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| 2016 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4 th qtr | |
| At current prices EUR bn. | |||||
| Gross national income | 3,197.313 | 783.426 | 784.441 | 810.848 | 818.598 |
| Net national income (factor costs) | 2,338.392 | 569.965 | 571.401 | 594.982 | 602.044 |
| Compensation of employees | 1,593.202 | 373.426 | 390.158 | 392.332 | 437.286 |
| Property and entrepreneurial income | 745.190 | 196.539 | 181.243 | 202.650 | 164.758 |
| Gross wages and salaries of employees | 1,305.941 | 305.255 | 319.334 | 321.856 | 359.496 |
| Net wages and salaries of employees | 863.087 | 202.183 | 207.382 | 217.143 | 236.379 |
| memorandum item: | |||||
| Disposable income of households | 1,811.802 | 447.817 | 452.296 | 452.448 | 459.241 |
| Savings ratio (in %) | 9.7 | 13.0 | 9.4 | 8.2 | 8.5 |
| Change on the previous year in % | |||||
| Gross national income | 3.2 | 3.4 | 4.8 | 2.6 | 2.1 |
| Net national income (factor costs) | 3.3 | 3.3 | 5.4 | 2.5 | 2.3 |
| Compensation of employees | 3.5 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.1 |
| Property and entrepreneurial income | 3.0 | 1.7 | 9.9 | 1.0 | 0.2 |
| Gross wages and salaries of employees | 3.6 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.1 |
| Net wages and salaries of employees | 3.2 | 4.4 | 3.6 | 2.9 | 2.0 |
| memorandum item: | |||||
| Disposable income of households | 2.8 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 2.2 | 2.8 |
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. A detailed quality report on national accounts is available.