Germany has entered a recession in the third quarter, according to official data released on Thursday, following a series of indicators of global economic slowdown.
As reported by the German Federal Statistical Office, activities in the largest European economy recorded a decline of 0.5 percent in the third quarter of this year, following a 0.4 percent decline in the previous quarter. Thus, Germany will meet the criteria for a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of declining gross domestic product (GDP). The decline recorded in the third quarter was greater than analysts’ expectations. The German Ministry of Economy announced last week that the number of orders in the industry decreased by a drastic 8 percent in September, marking the strongest decline since these statistics began to be recorded 17 years ago. Industrial production in the same month decreased by 3.6 percent.
This leading global exporter achieved modest monthly export growth of 0.7 percent in September, largely thanks to the weakening of the euro, which boosted the growth of foreign orders. This week, a key indicator of sentiment in the German economy unexpectedly revealed a recovery in investor confidence from record low levels in November, influenced by government and central bank measures aimed at stimulating the economy. The ZEW index from the Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim rose to minus 53.5 points in November, up from minus 63 points recorded in October.
