Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamt) announced on 14 August 2019 that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.4 percent in the first quarter of 2019, shrinking by 0.1 percent compared to the previous quarter.
Official data showed a decline in exports, amid concerns of a global slowdown.
While the overall figures were negative, household and government expenditure increased, as did investment outside the construction sector.
Construction itself fell after an unusually good first three months, boosted by a mild winter.
In the EPA-EFE/Friedemann Vogel above, A steel worker takes a steel sample at blast furnace 8 of German corporation ThyssenKrupp in Duisburg, Germany
