German economy grew in 2017 at fastest pace in 6 years
BERLIN — The German economy accelerated last year to grow by 2.2 per cent, putting in its strongest performance for six years thanks primarily to increasing demand at home, official data showed Thursday.
The figure released by the Federal Statistical Office was the strongest since 2011, when Europe’s biggest economy grew by 3.7 per cent. Gross domestic product expanded by 1.9 per cent in 2016 and 1.7 per cent in 2015.
Household spending by Germans was up 2 per cent last year, while investment in machinery and other equipment was up 3.5 per cent.
Exports — a traditional strength of the German economy — grew by 4.7 per cent, a much stronger performance than the previous year’s 2.6 per cent. But they were outpaced by imports, which expanded by 5.2 per cent, up from 3.9 per cent in 2016. Overall, foreign trade contributed only 0.2 percentage points to last year’s GDP growth.