German factory orders posted the biggest decline since the onset of the coronavirus<\/span> pandemic in 2020, suggesting that manufacturing weighed on the economic activity in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
Factory orders decreased by a more-than-expected 10.7 percent month-on-month in March, offsetting the revised 4.5 percent increase in February, data released by Destatis showed on Friday. Orders were forecast to drop moderately by 2.2 percent. <\/p>\n
Excluding large-scale orders, there was a decrease of 7.7 percent in March from the preceding month. <\/p>\n
In March, foreign orders plunged 13.3 percent and domestic orders decreased 6.8 percent.<\/p>\n
Orders for construction of ships, aircrafts and spacecrafts plunged 47.4 percent. This was in stark contrast to the 55.0 percent increase in February. <\/p>\n
Motor vehicles and auto parts also had a notable impact on the results, down 12.2 percent on the previous month. <\/p>\n
New orders in the capital goods industry posted a monthly decrease of 14.1 percent and that of intermediate goods dropped 7.5 percent. On the other hand, orders for consumer goods gained 1.2 percent. <\/p>\n
In the first quarter, new orders were 0.2 percent higher than in the same period of previous year. <\/p>\n
Further, data showed that manufacturing turnover decreased 2.9 percent over the month, reversing an increase of 1.5 percent in February. Turnover was 3.7 percent higher than in March 2022.<\/p>\n
Germany avoided a recession in the first quarter as the economy<\/span> stagnated with the fall in household and government spending offsetting the improvements in capital formation and exports.<\/p>\n
After contracting 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter, gross domestic product remained flat in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
The International Monetary Fund forecast the German economy to shrink 0.1 percent this year and to expand 1.1 percent in 2024. <\/p>\n
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