China News Agency, Berlin, July 31 (Reporter Peng Dawei) According to data released by the German Federal Statistical Office on the 30th, Germany's gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter of this year fell by 10.1% from the previous month. This is Germany's largest single-quarter decline since the release of quarterly GDP data in 1970.
The Federal Statistical Office of Germany said on the same day that after price, season and date adjustments, Germany's GDP in the second quarter of 2020 decreased by 10.1% from the first quarter; after price and date adjustments, it dropped by 11.7% compared to the same period last year. Among them, the quarter-on-quarter decline in the second quarter of this year was much higher than in the first quarter of 2009 when the last round of the financial crisis was the worst, when the German economy fell by 4.7%.
Data show that Germany's imports and exports of goods and services, private consumption, and equipment investment all fell sharply in the second quarter. In response to the economic recession caused by the new crown epidemic, German officials increased the scale of government spending during the same period.
German TV One quoted several economists as saying that if an economy experiences negative GDP growth for two consecutive quarters, it can be considered to be in recession. Taking into account that Germany's GDP has fallen by 2% in the first quarter of this year, the station believes that Europe's largest economy has officially entered a recession.
However, since the German economy has gradually returned to the growth track since entering the third quarter, the ifo business climate index and the Gfk consumer confidence index have both rebounded. The German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin (DIW) predicts that the German economy may stop falling and rebound in the third quarter of this year. The agency also reminded that it may take two years for the German economy to fully escape the impact of the epidemic. (Finish)