Bundesbank sees summer lull
June 17, 2013
In the second quarter of 2013, gross domestic product (GDP) in Germany was expected to strongly rebound from minimal growth of just 0.1 percent in the first three months of this year, the Bundesbank said in its monthly report published Monday. However, the Bundesbank didn't give an estimate about how high it expected the second-quarter growth figure turn out to be, just saying the recovery was significant.
The upward trend in factory orders since the beginning of the year had translated into growth in manufacturing output and exports between April and June, Germany's central bank said.
In addition, the construction industry was expanding as the sector was overcoming a backlog of orders due to the harsh and long winter.
The Bundesbank also predicted that the second-quarter upswing would stall in the third quarter, starting in July, as weaker factory orders in April would have a negative effect on output and exports.
"We expect the pace of growth to slow down in the summer," the bank said in its report, adding that this would come to weigh on job creation in Germany. Although businesses would continue to be willing to hire, new jobs were actually not being created.
The German Bundesbank left its growth prediction of 0.3 percent for the whole year, made at the beginning of 2013, unchanged.
uhe/msh (dpa, Reuters)