After years of continued growth and increasing domestic demand, the German government has sharply upped its 2018 economic outlook, projecting a growth rate of 2.4 percent, after predicting a mere 1.9 percent in October.The German government forecast Wednesday that the country’s economy will grow by 2.4 percent this year, lifting its previous prediction significantly from 1.9 percent in October.
The economy accelerated by 2.2 percent in 2017 primarily on the back of increasing domestic demand, the strongest performance for six years and the eighth consecutive year of economic growth.
A separate report showed that Germany’s unemployment rate climbed to 5.8 percent in January due to normal seasonal factors, but the underlying trend of the labor market remained positive.
The Federal Labor Agency said the unadjusted jobless rate climbed from 5.3 percent in December, with the number of unemployed rising by 185,000 to a total of 2.57 million. However, that figure was 207,000 lower than a year earlier.
In seasonally adjusted terms, the jobless rate ticked down to 5.4 percent from 5.5 percent, with 25,000 fewer people out of work than the previous month — slightly better than economists’ forecasts of a 17,000 drop.
jbh/tr (dpa, AP)
