Germany's economy has continued to grow, but at a slightly slower pace. As the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) already reported in its first release of 12 August 2016, the gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.4% (after price, seasonal and calendar adjustment) in the second quarter of 2016 compared with the first quarter of 2016. At the beginning of 2016, GDP growth had been strong at 0.7%.

A quarter-on-quarter comparison following price, seasonal and calendar adjustment shows that, on the use side of the gross domestic product, positive contributions mainly came from the balance of exports and imports. According to provisional calculations, exports of goods and services rose by a total of 1.2% compared with the first quarter of 2016. Imports declined by 0.1% in the same period. Arithmetically, the balance of exports and imports provided the strongest contribution to GDP growth in the reference period, contributing +0.6 percentage points.