- Overshooting 1.5C risks 'irreversible' climate impact: study
- Demis Hassabis, from chess prodigy to Nobel-winning AI pioneer
- Global stocks diverge as Chinese shares tumble
- Time runs out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
- Chad issues warning ahead of more devastating floods
- Creator's death no bar to new 'Dragon Ball' products
- Chinese stocks tumble on lack of fresh stimulus
- Trio wins chemistry Nobel for protein design, prediction
- Braving war: Lebanon's 'badass' airline defies odds
- US weighs Google breakup in landmark trial
- Chinese stocks tumble on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- 7-Eleven owner confirms new takeover offer from Couche-Tard
- A US climate scientist sees hurricane Helene's devastation firsthand
- Can carbon credits help close coal plants?
- Boeing suspends negotiations with striking workers
- 7-Eleven owner's shares spike on report of new buyout offer
- Your 'local everything': what 7-Eleven buyout battle means for Japan
- AI-aided research, new materials eyed for Nobel Chemistry Prize
- The US economy is solid: Why are voters gloomy?
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
- Trump secretly sent Covid tests to Putin: Bob Woodward book
- Neural networks, machine learning? Nobel-winning AI science explained
- Boeing delivers 27 MAX jets in September despite strike
- Stock markets diverge as Hong Kong sinks, oil prices fall
- US trade gap narrowest in five months as imports slip
- Stay and 'you are going to die': Florida braces for next hurricane
- Geoffrey Hinton, soft-spoken godfather of AI
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for 'foundational' AI breakthroughs
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China slaps provisional tariffs on EU brandy imports
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for key breakthroughs in AI
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free soon after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China says to take anti-dumping measures against EU brandy imports
- China stocks rally fizzles on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- China stocks rally peters out on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- Taiwan's Foxconn says building world's largest 'superchip' plant
- Nobel literature jury may go for non-Western writer
- From Bolivia to Indonesia, deforestation continues apace
- China holds off on fresh stimulus but 'confident' will hit growth target
- German suspect in 'Maddie' case faces verdict in sex crimes trial
- Top economic official 'confident' China will hit 2024 growth target
- COP29 fight looms over climate funds for developing world
- Shanghai stocks soar to extend stimulus rally amid Asia-wide drop
- Will Tesla's robotaxi reveal live up to hype?
- 'Invisibility' and quantum computing tipped for physics Nobel
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street falls
- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Mission to probe smashed asteroid launches despite hurricane
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
RIO | -0.68% | 66.21 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.28% | 24.64 | $ | |
NGG | -0.34% | 65.675 | $ | |
BTI | 0.55% | 35.415 | $ | |
GSK | 0.45% | 38.19 | $ | |
SCS | 2.44% | 13.1 | $ | |
BCE | -0.15% | 33.46 | $ | |
BP | -0.41% | 31.9 | $ | |
BCC | 0.45% | 142.665 | $ | |
RYCEF | -1.01% | 6.9 | $ | |
JRI | 0.3% | 13.2 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.11% | 24.8248 | $ | |
RBGPF | -2.48% | 59.33 | $ | |
RELX | -0.09% | 46.6 | $ | |
AZN | 0.12% | 76.965 | $ | |
VOD | 0.46% | 9.705 | $ |
German economy holds up in 2022, despite Ukraine war fallout
The German economy grew a better-than-expected 1.9 percent in 2022, official data showed Friday, as government relief measures cushioned Europe's export giant from an energy crisis triggered by the Ukraine war.
The expansion was slower than the 2.6-percent growth in 2021, with GDP "stagnating" in the fourth quarter as inflation surged following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, statistics authority Destatis said.
But it was better than the 1.8 percent forecast by analysts, as government interventions and a mild winter helped Germany weather the higher energy costs triggered by Moscow slashing crucial gas supplies.
Ruth Brand, president of Destatis, outlined the challenges faced by Europe's biggest economy, from "extreme energy price increases" to supply chain bottlenecks, rising food prices and a shortage of skilled workers.
But she added: "Despite these difficult conditions, the German economy held up well overall in 2022."
Carsten Brzeski, head of macroeconomics at ING, also said the data "shows that for the entire year 2022, the catch-up effect after the end of lockdowns, both for consumption and production, outweighed the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine.
"In the final months of the year, fiscal support also cushioned the downswing."
- Recession fears -
The soaring energy costs weighed on German industry and consumers, but a string of recent indicators suggest that the downturn will be less severe than initially feared.
The government itself had forecast in October that the economy would shrink 0.4 percent over the whole of this year.
But efforts to build up gas reserves in preparation for the winter have allowed Germany to skirt acute shortages.
A massive 200-billion-euro ($216 billion) support package announced in September to limit household energy bills and support businesses has also taken the sting out of price rises, analysts say.
Some analysts warn the reprieve may prove temporary given significant risks that lie ahead.
Germany will likely be unable to dodge a recession -- two consecutive quarters in which the economy shrinks -- said Brzeski.
The 2022 GDP figure "implies a stagnating, not contracting, economy in the fourth quarter. Will the widely-predicted recession simply fail to materialise? We remain doubtful."
"Avoiding the worst does not suggest the economy is doing well," he added.
The German auto industry association VDA has warned about the long-term consequences of higher energy prices for the flagship sector.
"Industry is the engine of Germany's prosperity and that engine needs energy," VDA president Hildegard Mueller said earlier this week.
Germany risks "permanently losing out" if it does not find a way to supply industry with affordable energy, she said.
P.Gonzales--CPN