In the past twelve months, gross domestic product has grown by 1.9 percent.

This was announced by the Federal Statistical Office on Friday.

The growth was thus well below the value of the previous year, when economic output had increased by 2.6 percent.

Johannes Pennekamp

Responsible editor for business reporting.

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However, the meanwhile very pessimistic forecasts of economists have not materialized either.

After the Russian attack on Ukraine on February 24 last year and the gradual lack of gas supplies from Russia to Germany, some economists thought a severe economic slump was possible.

The statistics also show that in 2022 the state spent more than it took in.

The proportion of the deficit of the federal, state, local and social security funds in the gross domestic product, i.e. in the total economic output, was 2.6 percent.

On the brink of recession

In fact, the German economy is on the verge of a recession.

However, it is not certain that this will actually occur.

Economists speak of a recession when gross domestic product (GDP) does not grow for two quarters in a row.

In the third quarter of 2022, GDP had surprisingly grown by 0.4 percent compared to the second quarter.

And important economic indicators were also stable at the end of the year.

The mood in the economy even improved slightly, with industry producing a little more recently.

Economists' forecasts for the current year are cautious.

The Munich Ifo Institute, for example, expects a minimal decline in economic output before things start to pick up again in 2024.

One ray of hope is that the high pressure on producer prices for agricultural products in Germany is easing further.

In November, they rose by almost 32 percent compared to the same month last year, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Friday in Wiesbaden.

In October, prices had risen by almost 38 percent compared to the same month last year and by a good 40 percent in September.

Compared to October 2022, prices fell by 0.5 percent.

The producer prices are the selling prices of the producers.

They also affect consumer prices.

Plant-based products in particular were no longer so expensive in November.

Here the increase compared to the same month last year was almost 17 percent, in October the increase was just under 38 percent.

Table potatoes increased in price by almost 71 percent and thus less than in the previous month.

The price pressure on grain also eased significantly.

Here, prices rose by a good 16 percent in November after almost 34 percent in October.

Grain had become more expensive as a result of the Ukraine war and had also pushed up producer prices in the previous months.

Producer prices for animal products rose nearly 44 percent, slightly less rapidly than in October.

The producer prices for milk rose particularly sharply - by a good half.

Meanwhile, in November, vegetables rose sharply by almost a third compared to the same month last year (plus 32 percent), while fruit prices fell by 3.4 percent.

Tourism is recovering, hotels have guests again

Tourism in Germany grew strongly in November 2022, but did not reach the level before the Corona crisis.

Hotels, guesthouses and other accommodation establishments booked 29.8 million overnight stays by domestic and foreign guests, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Friday in Wiesbaden.

That was 21.8 percent more than a year earlier, when tourism was severely restricted by the fourth corona wave.

Compared to November 2019, the month before the corona pandemic, a minus of 8.1 percent was recorded.

The number of overnight stays by guests from Germany rose by 17.9 percent to 24.7 million in November compared to the same month last year.

The pre-crisis level was undershot by 6.2 percent.

Cross-border tourism lagged even further behind.

With 5.1 million overnight stays by foreign travelers, the level before the pandemic was missed by 16.2 percent.