German gross domestic product, full year 2024

Germany’s economy contracted by 0.2% in 2024, marking the country’s second consecutive annual slowdown, data from statistics office Destatis showed on Wednesday.

This drop is in line with the expectations of economists polled by Reuters, according to LSEG data. The European Commission and a group of Germany’s leading economic institutes had both independently predicted a 0.1% decline in German GDP in 2024.

Ruth Brand, president of Germany’s statistics agency, said “cyclical and structural pressures” were hindering stronger economic development.

“These include increasing competition for the German export industry in key sales markets, high energy costs, a level of interest rates that remains high and an uncertain economic outlook,” she said in a press release.

The German economy had already contracted by 0.3% in 2023.

Destatis also released a first reading of fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) on Wednesday, based on currently available information. The economy shrank 0.1% in the three months to the end of December, compared with the previous quarter, after adjusting for price, seasonal and calendar variations. The first regular reading of German GDP for the fourth quarter will be released later this month, Destatis noted.

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