German economic growth slowed in the spring after a strong start to the year, the Bundesbank wrote Monday in its monthly bulletin for June.
Though the state of the economy is still judged to be "extraordinarily good" by German firms, strong business expectations, which were extremely confident in the winter, have recently eroded somewhat, the German central bank said. In seasonally-adjusted terms, industrial production in April only barely beat out the quarterly average for the first three months of the year, when the economy grew 1.5% in quarterly terms.
Interestingly, Germany's central bank pointed out that there has likely been no new economic momentum from private consumption.
The most recent data for German retail sales excluding automobiles, one component of private consumption, showed turnover up 0.3% on the month in April in seasonally-adjusted terms.
In mid-April, Germany's government raised its growth forecast for 2011, pointing to rising spending among consumers.
The bank said German labor market conditions have improved, but more slowly. April's seasonally-adjusted jobless total dropped by 33,000, while in May the fall was only 8,000, data from the federal labor agency show.
Earlier in June the Bundesbank raised its economic-growth forecasts for Germany, but cautioned on weak public finances in a number of industrialized countries. It forecast that gross domestic product will rise 3.1% in 2011 and 1.8% in 2012, in price-adjusted terms.
Germany's economy grew 3.6 percent last year, the fastest since reunification two decades ago, as booming exports fueled domestic hiring and spending.
Though the state of the economy is still judged to be "extraordinarily good" by German firms, strong business expectations, which were extremely confident in the winter, have recently eroded somewhat, the German central bank said. In seasonally-adjusted terms, industrial production in April only barely beat out the quarterly average for the first three months of the year, when the economy grew 1.5% in quarterly terms.
Interestingly, Germany's central bank pointed out that there has likely been no new economic momentum from private consumption.
The most recent data for German retail sales excluding automobiles, one component of private consumption, showed turnover up 0.3% on the month in April in seasonally-adjusted terms.
In mid-April, Germany's government raised its growth forecast for 2011, pointing to rising spending among consumers.
The bank said German labor market conditions have improved, but more slowly. April's seasonally-adjusted jobless total dropped by 33,000, while in May the fall was only 8,000, data from the federal labor agency show.
Earlier in June the Bundesbank raised its economic-growth forecasts for Germany, but cautioned on weak public finances in a number of industrialized countries. It forecast that gross domestic product will rise 3.1% in 2011 and 1.8% in 2012, in price-adjusted terms.
Germany's economy grew 3.6 percent last year, the fastest since reunification two decades ago, as booming exports fueled domestic hiring and spending.
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