BERLIN: The German economy grew by 0.3 percent in the third quarter of 2015, boosted mainly by domestic demand, official data showed on Tuesday.
German federal statistics office (Destatis) confirmed its preliminary estimation earlier this month that the growth of Europe’s biggest economy slowed during the three months between July and September following an expansion of 0.4 percent in the second quarter.
According to Destatis, private consumption increased by 0.6 percent quarterly, while government spending expenditure also rose by 1.3 percent. However, investment went down by 0.3 percent and foreign exports knocked 0.4 percentage points off the economic growth.
“The increase in imports was much larger (than in exports). Consequently, the balance of exports and imports had a negative effect on the gross domestic product growth,” Destatis said.
The German economy has been driven by domestic demand in recent years as demand from abroad weakened due to uncertainties in global economy.
Private consumption in Germany remained robust thanks to a stable labor market, increasing wages and falling energy prices. Public spending was also expected to increase as the influx of refugees showed no sign of easing.
Earlier this month, the German government’s economic advisers said the refugee influx would lead to additional public spending of up to 8.3 billion euros (about 8.85 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015 and up to 14.3 billion euros in 2016.
