German gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 2.2% in the second quarter (Q2) of 2010 on the previous quarter after price and seasonal adjustment. It was the greatest quarterly growth since reunification in 1990. At the same time, the result for the first quarter of 2010 was revised substantially upwards, now showing a 0.5% increase. Hence the recovery of the German economy, which lost momentum at the turn of 2009/2010, is really back on track.

Destatis, the German federal statistics office, said when compared with a year earlier, the gross domestic product increased considerably, too: The price-adjusted GDP was up by 4.1% in the second quarter of 2010 on the second quarter of 2009 (calendar-adjusted: +3.7%).

Destatis reported on Monday that seasonally adjusted imports grew by 1.9% month-on-month to a record of €72.4bn in June. Exports expanded by 3.8% but, over the past 12 months, the rate of import growth has outpaced exports. Meanwhile, the German chamber of industry and commerce predicted that, next year, imports would surpass the record level of €808bn achieved in 2008.

In a quarter-on-quarter GDP comparison, both domestic and foreign demand made a positive contribution to growth. The dynamic trends observed in capital formation and foreign trade contributed most strongly to the positive development. However, household and government final consumption expenditure contributed to GDP growth, too.

The economic performance in the second quarter of 2010 was achieved by 40.3 million persons in employmen. That was an increase of 72,000 persons or 0.2% on a year earlier.

In addition to the first calculation of data for the second quarter, the results published so far for the last four years (from 2006) were revised at the same time, as is the case every year in August (revision of the seasonally and calendar-adjusted results from 1991).
 
The current recalculation resulted in rates of change of the unadjusted annual and quarterly GDP figures which differ from the previously published results by up to 0.4 percentage points. The rates of change of the seasonally and calendar-adjusted results were revised by up to 0.3 percentage points, too. In particular the GDP change rates for the individual quarters and the year 2008, for which results of annual basic statistics became available for the first time, were in part substantially revised downwards.

As regards the 2009 year of crisis, however, the development was more favourable than indicated by the previously published figures (see annexed table). The comparatively large revisions are attributable to recently strong fluctuations in the short-term economic development, which have made estimations at the most recent end of the time series more difficult.

Destatis says such continuous revisions are carried out routinely to integrate newly available statistical information into the calculations. Hence, the GDP calculation is successively put on an ever better founded statistical data basis. The complete basic statistics required for a “final” calculation of national accounting results are available after four years at the latest, so that only then are the results final and do no longer have to be revised on a regular basis.

The German economy accounts for about 30% of Eurozone output.

On Thursday, it was reported that the Greek economy shrank by a further 1.5% in the second quarter of the year, Greece's statistics agency reported.

The economy had declined 0.8% in the the first three months of 2010, suggesting that the decline is accelerating. Greece's GDP has fallen 3.5% since the same period in 2009.

Greece's statistics agency Elstat said the "significant reduction" in public spending had contributed to the deepening of the country's recession.

The EU/IMF rescue program for Greece assumes that Greek GDP will dip 4% in 2010.