By Mucahithan Avcioglu
ISTANBUL (AA) - The German economy posted a 0.2% expansion last year, following two consecutive years of recession, according to Destatis data released on Thursday.
The growth followed contractions of 0.9%, and 0.5% in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
"After two years of recession, the German economy edged back into growth. The growth is primarily attributable to increased household final consumption expenditure and government final consumption expenditure," Ruth Brand, president of Destatis, said.
Brand noted, on the other hand, exports recorded another decline. Germany's export business faced strong headwinds owing to higher US tariffs, the appreciation of the euro and increased competition from China.
"In addition, investment remained weak, with fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment and in construction down on the previous year," she added.
In manufacturing and construction industries, gross value added fell, by 1.3% and 3.6%, respectively.
Overall, household final consumption expenditure rose 1.4% in 2025, with households spending more on health, in particular, than in the previous year (+3.8%).
Additionally, government final consumption expenditure increased again, rising 1.5% from the previous year, due to the fact that social security funds had to spend more on hospital and medical treatment, medication and care.
In a turbulent year for German foreign trade, exports in 2025 registered a further decline (-0.3%), the third in succession. This was due to exports of goods, which were 0.7% lower than the level of the previous year.
On the other hand, in terms of imports, the situation in 2025 was entirely different, following two years of decline, imports rose 3.6%
On a quarterly basis, the German economy expanded by 0.2% in the last quarter of 2025.