German Growth Driven Solely by Exports

The German economy saw a sharp rebound in activity driven solely by exports in the first three months of this year, final data showed on Tuesday. German gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 1.0 percent in price, calendar and seasonally adjusted terms in the period from January to March, the fastest quarterly rate of growth in four years, the federal statistics office Destatis calculated. The final data confirmed a preliminary estimation published on May 12. Destatis said that first-quarter growth was driven primarily by exports, which grew by 2.9 percent in the January-March period. By contrast, imports were down 1.4 percent and state and consumer spending contracted by 0.2 percent apiece in the three-month period, underlining the continuing weakness of domestic demand, which fell by 0.6 percent. Analysts said the latest data for the first two months of the second quarter indicated that the recovery is already petering out as high oil prices and slowing global growth put the brakes on

the German economy.