The growth of private consumption in Germany and the increase in public spending on refugees, compensated the weakening of foreign trade, making possible for a slight increase in Europe's largest economy in the third quarter, even if at a slower pace, as data showed on Monday.
The Federal Bureau of Statistics confirmed the preliminary GDP growth forecast, saying that this figure, adjusted with taking into account seasonal variations, rose 0.3 % in the quarter from July to September after increasing 0.4 % in April-June.
Private consumption grew by 0.6 % in the third quarter, government spending jumped 1.3 % - the biggest rise since the beginning of 2009. Demand in the domestic market added 0.7 percentage points of GDP.
"Of course, the cost of the refugees played a role in this. They have had a major impact on public expenditure," - said an official at the Federal Bureau of Statistics.
On the other hand, German exports showed a lower growth rate than imports, due to weaker demand from China and other emerging markets. Net foreign trade deprived the GDP by 0.4 percentage points - the weakest contributions in two years.
The business climate index by IFO for the last month has increased, contrary to expectations. This is evidenced by data released on Tuesday.
According to the report prepared by the Institute for Economic Research (IFO), the indicator (seasonally adjusted) was 109.0 compared with 108.2 in the previous month. Experts expected the index to maintain as the last month at the level of 108.2. The November value of the indicator is the highest since June 2014.
The increased confidence of German companies is treated by experts as a signal of sufficient stability of German economy, in spite of adverse factors - from the weakening of global demand to Volkswagen AG scandal.
"The forecast for the German economy looks strong. We expect to restore growth to the end of the year", - said an economist at UniCredit (MI: CRDI) SpA in Frankfurt, Andreas Rees.
IFO confidence index is calculated on the results of a survey with about 7 thousand CEOs in Germany.