Economic Buzz: German economy recovers on spending, investment

The German economy recovered in the first quarter driven by higher private consumption and investment, flash data from Destatis revealed on Wednesday.

Gross domestic product grew 0.2 percent sequentially, offsetting the 0.2 percent fall in the preceding quarter.

The calendar-adjusted GDP posted an annual fall of 0.2 percent, as seen in the fourth quarter of 2024 and also came in line with forecast.

On a price-adjusted basis, GDP declined at a steady annual pace of 0.4 percent in the first quarter. Destatis is slated to publish detailed results for the first quarter on May 23.

The unemployment rate in Germany rose slightly in April, the Federal Employment Agency said today. The jobless rate rose to 6.3 percent from 6.2 percent in March.

The number of people out of work increased 4,000 from the previous month, which was smaller than economists' forecast of 16,000. In March, unemployment had increased by 25,000.

Based on the labor force survey, Destatis reported that the jobless rate remained unchanged at seasonally adjusted 3.5 percent in March. There were 1.58 million unemployed people in March, down 2,000 from the previous month.

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