As reported by Germany's Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the country's season, calendar and price adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) in Q1 2012 increased by 0.5 percent compared to Q4 2011. In the last quarter of 2011, German GDP had suffered the first slight quarter-on-quarter dip (-0.2%) since the 2009 economic crisis.
Destatis said that the quarter-on-quarter increase in Germany's GDP was attributable mainly to the balance of exports and imports. According to provisional calculations, exports, in contrast to imports, rose at the beginning of the year. Also, domestic consumption was higher than in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, in the first quarter this year Germany's price adjusted GDP was up by 1.7 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In calendar-adjusted terms, a slightly smaller increase of 1.2 percent was recorded, because, due to the leap year, the quarter in question had one working day more than the same quarter of the previous year.