BERLIN - Germany’s spluttering economy returned to growth in the first quarter as consumers spent more freely and construction activity picked up, but the government said the outlook remained clouded by trade disputes.
The rebound in Europe’s largest economy, which barely escaped recession in late 2018, helped drive an acceleration in the euro zone, and it takes some pressure off the European Central Bank to provide fresh monetary stimulus to counter the effects of slowing global growth. The U.S. and China have ramped up their trade conflict, and both countries are important markets for German exporters, meaning the tariffs are hurting their businesses too.
The euro zone, which expanded 0.2% in the last three months of 2018, doubled that growth rate to 0.4% in the first quarter, the EU’s statistics office confirmed on Wednesday. Altmaier, a confidant of conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel, repeated a call to support companies by cutting red tape and taxes. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat, has declined to cut corporate taxes, pointing to a tight budget.
It will publish more detailed data next week which should shed more light on which sectors of the economy contributed to growth and to what extent.
Hope dies finally - at Merkel's end. Without 30 billion € migration related helicopter money pushing consumption Germany would be in a recession. But Germany eats the seed. No investment in technologies of the future & elite universities & elite research. RIP FRG
There is an EU Election coming up isn't there
Makes you wonder how much of it is due to the trade war.
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