The economy in northern Germany is currently running significantly better than in the south, east and west. In the fourth quarter, the gross domestic product in Lower Saxony increased by 1.4 percent, as the Munich IFO Institute calculated. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania it was 1.1 percent, 1.0 percent in Schleswig-Holstein, while Germany had to accept a total decline of 0.2 percent.
Hessen was also able to go against the downward trend with a growth of 0.8 percent. Hamburg stagnated with a black zero in the fourth quarter, but is ahead in the entire year. For the remaining federal states, the IFO has falling values in its season -adjusted calculation.
Armor industry plays an important role
“Industry in the north decouples from the overall German development, with the upswing playing a central role here,” says IFO economy expert Robert Lehmann. “In Hesse, things are going quite well for the financial and company service providers.”
It was particularly bad in the fourth quarter in Saxony with a decline of 1.8 percent and Saxony-Anhalt with minus 1.4 percent. With a decline, Bremen was the only North Bundesland in minus. Brandenburg lost 0.6 percent, Thuringia 0.5.
Bavarian growth weakness continues
In Bavaria, Berlin and Saarland, the gross domestic product dropped by 0.3 percent compared to the previous quarter, according to Ifo. The weakness of the Bavarian economy of the first two quarters continued, the economic researchers said. Overall, the Free State even has a minus of 1.0 percent. In Baden-Württemberg, the gross domestic product fell by 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the previous quarter, in North Rhine-Westphalia by 0.6 percent. “As in Rhineland-Palatinate, this is the expression of a relatively higher share of energy-intensive industries,” says Lehmann. Rhineland-Palatinate had a minus of 0.4 percent.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 250415-930-440840/1
