Germany confirms 2017 surplus and GDP growth

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The German government, the country's 16 states and its communities posted a budget surplus of €36.6 billion ($44.9 billion) in 2017, the National Statistics Office (Destatis) reported Friday, slightly revising an earlier estimate of €38.4 billion.

The figure marked the fourth annual surplus in a row in Europe's powerhouse, which no longer has any difficulty sticking to the European budget deficit rules as laid down in the Maastricht Treaty, and which stipulate that governments' fresh borrowing must not exceed 3 percent of gross domestic product.

The positive result last year was again made possible by full order books and record high employment as well as by the European Central Bank's ultra-loose monetary policy and its low-interest policy in particular.

Destatis officials confirmed that Germany's economy grew by 0.6 percent in the final quarter of last year. The uptick was mainly attributable to a 2.7-percent increase in exports, compared with a 2-percent rise in inbound shipments.

For the whole year, the economy expanded by 2.2 percent, marking the biggest annual growth since 2011.

Economists from the Munich-based ifo economic institute doubt whether the same momentum can be kept up throughout this year, pointing to a drop in its monthly business confidence index.

Watch video 02:41 Share Germany runs short of transportation palettes Send Facebook Google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink http://p.dw.com/p/2sJIC Germany runs short of transportation palettes

Ntjs95 on February 23rd, 2018 at 14:42 UTC »

Did they put all that extra money into their international hockey program?

SandiegoJack on February 23rd, 2018 at 13:51 UTC »

Y'all got any more of that fiscal responsibility?

Keldaruda on February 23rd, 2018 at 13:51 UTC »

What will Germany do with that surplus?