BERLIN, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- German gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter (Q3) recovered by 8.5 percent compared with the previous quarter, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Tuesday.
The German economy "offset a large part of the massive decline" in GDP caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the second quarter but it was still 4.0 percent lower than in Q3 2019, before the COVID-19 crisis began.
"The rebound of German GDP in the third quarter of 2020 was stronger than most forecasters had anticipated," Axel Lindner, deputy head of macroeconomics department at the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), told Xinhua.
According to Destatis, consumption expenditure of German households increased by 10.8 percent quarter-on-quarter and particularly contributed to the GDP growth in Q3.
"An increase was also recorded in trade with foreign countries," Destatis noted. Exports of goods and services rose by 18.1 percent compared with the previous quarter. In September, the total value of German exports reached 109.8 billion euros (130.3 billion U.S. dollars).
Depending on the trading partner, German exports were impacted differently by the pandemic. According to recent figures by Destatis, German exports to China in September rose by 10.6 percent to 8.5 billion euros.
Overall, German domestic and foreign demand in Q3 was "substantially below the previous year's level," Destatis noted. Gross value added in all economic sectors was also "markedly down" compared to the previous year.
As shown by the decline of the monthly index for business expectations by the ifo Institute in November, "the second wave of COVID-19 infections will cause production to shrink in the final quarter of this year," said Lindner. (1 euro = 1.19 U.S. dollars) Enditem
