Domestic demand doubles Germany growth in Q1

BERLIN, May 24 (Xinhua): Driven by domestic demand, Germany's economy doubled its growth in the first quarter of 2014, the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Friday, confirming its preliminary estimate earlier this month.
Adjusted for price, seasonal and calendar swings, gross domestic product (GDP) of the Europe's largest economy increased by 0.8 per cent in the first three months, compared with the last quarter of 2013, when the economy expanded moderately by 0.4 per cent.
The last time GDP grew more in a quarter-on-quarter comparison was three years ago, said Destatis in a statement, attributing the strong growth partly to "extremely mild weather."
Today's release showed that investment increased markedly in the past quarter, among which capital formation in machinery and equipment rose by 3.3 per cent, investment in construction sector leapt by 3.6 per cent. Meanwhile, Household consumption rose by 0.7 per cent on the fourth quarter of 2013, and government spending was up by 0.4 per cent.