Germany 3Q growth confirmed at 0.2 percent

BERLIN: Germany's economic growth in the third quarter this year was just 0.2 percent, driven mainly by domestic consumption but dented by foreign trade, the federal statistics office Destatis confirmed on Thursday.

Domestic spending rose 0.4 percent and state expenditure by one percent compared to the preceding quarter, but gross investment and imports experienced negligible growth and exports fell by 0.4 percent.

"Foreign trade had a negative effect on gross domestic product (GDP) growth" in the order of 0.3 percentage points, Destatis said.

The period covers the immediate aftermath of the Brexit referendum in Britain, a major market for German goods.

The report confirmed provisional figures issued on November 15. Analysts have predicted a pick-up in activity for the final quarter.

Expressed on a year-on-year basis, Germany's economy expanded 1.7 percent in the third quarter, after 1.8 percent in the second quarter and 1.9 percent in the first quarter.

In 2015, Germany notched up economic growth of 1.7 percent.

The government predicts growth of 1.8 percent in 2016, which will fall to 1.4 percent in 2017.