Economists said the data appeared to have been weighed down by the large number of holidays in August this year.
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Later on Thursday Germany’s Ifo institute released a report in which German economists forecast a “modest upturn” in economic growth, predicting a 1.8 percent expansion in 2015, versus 1.6 percent in 2014.
Imports fell by 3.1 per cent on the month to €78.2 billion.
Germany’s unemployment rate should drop from an average 6.7 percent in 2014 to 6.4 percent this year, before ticking up to 6.5 percent next year as a result of asylum seekers who have arrived in recent months seeking jobs, the think-tanks said.
Today’s disappointing export numbers are no reason to panic, Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING-DiBa said.
Germany’s trade surplus (value) narrowed to €15.3 bn in August from €25.0 bn in July. “Nonetheless, it still indicates that weak conditions in emerging markets are an increasing headwind for the export-orientated German economy”. The drop in both exports and imports was higher than expected.
Germany’s current account balance, a broad measure of an economy’s worldwide financial position, showed a surplus of €12.3 billion in August in unadjusted terms. By comparison, the current account surplus in August previous year was EUR11.1 billion.
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But following sharp declines in industrial orders and output during the month, it also suggested that waning demand from overseas, particularly China and other emerging markets is beginning to leave its mark on Germany.
