Germany’s economy likely grew more significantly more in the second quarter than in the first, the finance ministry said yesterday, adding that the recovery should strengthen in the second half of the year.
In its monthly report, the ministry said the improved growth in Europe’s largest economy was partly due to a pickup in the construction sector in the second quarter after a slowdown over the winter because of harsh weather.
Increased momentum in the industrial sector was also likely to have contributed very positively to GDP in the second quarter. The economy grew 0.2 percent on the quarter in the first three months of the year.
OPTIMISM
“Given the upward trend in industrial demand and the optimistic mood among companies, the economic recovery should strengthen in the second half of the year,” the ministry said.
“The recent positive development, however, should not obscure the fact that with important indicators, pre-crisis levels have not yet been reached and production is still below-capacity,” the ministry said.
Germany emerged from its deepest post-war recession in the second quarter of last year, and recent indicators have pointed to a pickup in the pace of recovery.
German trade with the rest of the world surged in May, while industrial output jumped more than expected, data showed earlier this month.
The ministry said output was likely to continue rising over the coming months and Germany was benefiting in particular from demand for its capital goods, as demand worldwide and especially in emerging Asian countries picked up.
“The outlook for a further rise in exports is good,” the ministry said, adding that the rise in imports and domestic orders pointed to recovering domestic demand.
WEAK CONSUMPTION
Private consumption was likely to have remained weak in the second quarter, but will pick up in the course of the year due to a recovery in the labor market and tax relief for households introduced by the government at the start of this year, it said.
The ministry said it did not expect the labor market to deteriorate, given that unemployment was decreasing as the use of shorter working hours declined and economic indicators were positive. Unemployment fell last month fell to its lowest level since December 2008.
The ministry added that consumer prices were likely to develop “calmly” over the course of the year.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS