Germany's economy returned to growth in the first quarter of this year with exports continuing to underpin expansion as domestic demand remained weak, the Bundesbank said today.
"Real gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for working days and seasonal swings, probably grew markedly in the first quarter," Germany's central bank said in its monthly report for April.
"Demand from abroad was again the key factor in the return of expansion, and this led to exports increasing more strongly than imports over the first two months which boosted the contribution of net trade to overall growth. Against this, domestic demand remained generally weak," it said.
A recovery in Europe's biggest economy faltered in the second half of last year, with GDP stagnating in the third quarter and shrinking 0.2 per cent in the final three months compared with the previous quarter.
Despite the predicted return to expansion in the first quarter of this year, most analysts and economic research institutes have trimmed their forecasts for full-year 2005 growth in Germany to around 1 per cent.