According to the report from Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 8.2% in the third quarter of 2020 on the second quarter of 2020 after adjustment for price, seasonal and calendar variations. Economists had expected a 7.3% increase. Growth was based on higher final consumption expenditure of households, higher capital formation in machinery and equipment and a sharp increase in exports.
Destatis also reports that the German economy thus grew markedly after the historic slump of the gross domestic product in the second quarter of 2020 due to the beginning corona pandemic. However, when compared with the fourth quarter of 2019 - the quarter before the global corona pandemic -, the price-, seasonally and calendar-adjusted GDP was by 4.2% lower in the third quarter of 2020.
GDP in the third quarter of 2020 was down a price-ajusted 4.1% on the third quarter of 2019 (price- and calendar-adjusted: -4.3%).