Germany Reports Sluggish Growth

Germany’s economy barely grew in the first quarter of 2013 as exports and investment shrank, figures show.

But higher domestic consumption – thanks to rising wages – helped offset the declines in foreign trade and capital investment, raising hopes it will help drive a sustained recovery.

Gross domestic product rose 0.1% from the previous quarter, but contracted 1.4% compared with a year earlier.

The figure showed the economy narrowly avoided falling into a recession.

In the previous quarter, Germany’s annual economic output shrank by 0.7%. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.

via BBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza