Econintersect: Lower oil prices and a weaker euro are being credited with boosting the German economy in the fourth quarter as private consumption rose 0.8%, capital investment jumped 1.2% and exports climbed 1.3% to lead a GDP increase of 0.7%. All numbers are quarter-over-quarter. Also helping the economy, especially on the private consumption front, was the largest increase in real wages (+1.6%) in at least six years. How much longer is not known because the data has only been reported since 2008.
The real GDP growth for 2014 was 1.44%, more than the 2013 increase of 1.14%.
The real GDP growth by quarter is shown in the first graph below for the last three years. The second graph shows the ten-year history.
For comparison the ten-year real GDP graph is shown for the U.S. Germany (14.7% cummulative growth) and the U.S. (15.9%) have similar ten-year cummulative GDP records.
Sources:
- German Economy Gets Boost From Consumers and Exports (Stefan Reicher, Bloomberg Business, 24 February 2015)
- Germany GDP Constant Prices (Trading Economics, 25 February 2015)
- United States GDP Constant Prices (Trading Economics, 25 February 2015)