Germany: GDP Contracts by 0.2% in 2024

According to preliminary calculations by the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the gross domestic product (GDP) of the former “industrial locomotive of Europe” will shrink by 0.2 percent in 2024 compared to the results recorded in 2023. Destatis Director Ruth Brand (pictured) stated: “The figure is subject to change as the fourth-quarter data is still preliminary.” It is possible that the already negative indicator may be revised downward.

Destatis’s statistics were immediately commented on by Volker Treier of the German Chamber of Commerce: “The most important sectors of German industry,” Treier told the press, “such as automotive, mechanical, and chemical engineering, as well as construction, are struggling with low demand. Companies are under pressure not only from weakness in the domestic market, but also from problems in global markets, as China, for example, is no longer an engine of growth. German exports declined in the first eleven months of 2024 compared to the same period last year. At best, we can expect stagnation in 2025.”

The already difficult economic situation in Germany risks getting even worse due to the official inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump at the White House on January 20. If the tariffs announced by the 47th US president are implemented, 300,000 jobs will be at risk in Germany alone. These alarming data were released in a study conducted by the German Institute for Macroeconomic and Economic Research (Institut für Makroökonomie und Konjunkturforschung, IMK), which emphasizes that “the calculation was based on tariffs starting at 10% and going up to 20 percent.” And that’s because currently in Germany, IMK writes, “1.2 million jobs depend on exports to the USA, the largest trading partner of German companies.”