BERLIN, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The German export economy held its ground in an increasingly difficult climate, exporting goods worth 336.1 billion euros (377.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of the year, according to figures published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Friday.
Compared to last year, Germany increased exports by 2.5 percent in the first quarter of 2019, the figures showed.
"The global economic uncertainty continues to weigh on the export business of German companies," Galina Kolev, head of the research group Macroeconomic Analyses and Business Cycles at the German Economic Institute (IW), told Xinhua on Friday.
At the same time, "the good domestic economy is causing a strong increase in imports from both the euro zone and the rest of the world. The rebalancing process in merchandise trading is thus continuing," said Kolev.
In the month of March alone, German exports increased by 1.9 percent to 118.3 billion euros compared to March 2018.
German imports rose even more strongly, up 4.8 percent to 280.9 billion euros in the first three months of the year, according to the Destatis.
"The many risks for world trade cannot be overlooked," said Holger Bingmann, president of the Federation of German Wholesale and Foreign Trade (BGA).
Nonetheless, "although the many negative developments have left some traces, overall German foreign trade has performed well in a harsh environment," Bingmann stressed.
The German government, several major German economic research institutes and, most recently, the European Commission, have all significantly lowered their forecasts for German economic growth to 0.5 percent for 2019.
