The German economy grew by 1.7 percent in 2015, its strongest rate of expansion in four years, according to the latest data from the Federal Statistics Office.

Private consumption expanded by 1.9 percent, the strongest figure since 2000, and public spending increased by 2.8 percent, adding 0.5 points to GDP and in line with the government’s forecast. However, imports continued to expand at a slightly higher rate than imports.

“Germany has continued to benefit from the weaker euro, and combined with an increase in private and public consumption recovery should continue to be strong”, said Dayfdd Davies, partner at Charles Hanover Investments.

Germany is expecting expansion to continue on into 2016, but a record influx of migrants last year pushed state spending higher, and may have an impact on the year ahead.

14/01/2016