German GDP fell 0.1% quarter-on-quarter, Germany’s Federal Office said earlier on Wednesday. The annual growth rate in Europe’s largest economy slowed from 0.9% in the first quarter to 0.4% in the second quarter.
This news comes amid a global slowdown of the economy.
Industrial production in the euro zone countries fell by 1.6% in June compared to the previous month, and by 2.6% from the same month in 2018.
Employment growth in the euro zone area slowed to 0.2% quarter-on-quarter from 0.4% on the first quarter, and from 1.3% on the first quarter to 1.1% year-to-year.
GDP growth for the UK also shrank in the second quarter. For the three months ended June, the GDP contracted 0.2% compared to the previous quarter, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Mexico just dodged a recession, as GDP growth in the first quarter of 2019 was -0.2%, and in the second quarter it was 0.1%, narrowly avoiding contracting. A recession is usually defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.
China’s massive economy is also slowing at its lowest rate in nearly a decade, as the country wages a trade war with the United States.
The United States, however, has kept solid GDP growth for the first two quarters of 2019. In the first quarter, it’s economy grew by an annualized rate of 3.1%, however, economic growth slowed down to 2.1% in the second quarter.
The International Monetary Fund last month cut it’s forecast for global growth this year to 3.2%, and lowered its expectations for 2020 to 3.5%.
This comes as tensions are escalating between the United States and China. The International Monetary Fund has warned that growth in 2029 could be slashed by half a point if the trade war escalated further.
Brazil has also been facing weak industrial production and high unemployment, and data due in a few weeks will show if Latin America’s largest economy has fallen into recession.
With information from Reuters
Salamander News 