BERLIN, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- German exports decreased by 1.8 percent in August, while imports went up 0.5 percent compared with the previous month, according to figures published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Thursday.
According to Destatis, Germany exported goods worth 101.2 billion euros (111.5 billion U.S. dollars) and imported goods worth 85.0 billion euros in August. Compared to the corresponding period last year, German exports decreased by 3.9 percent and imports by 3.1 percent.
"The decline in German foreign trade underlines the current weakness of the global economy and world trade," said Holger Bingmann, head of the Federation of German Wholesale,Foreign Trade and Services (BGA).
German exports to other members of the European Union (EU) decreased by 3.3 percent year-on-year while imports decreased 2.7 percent less year-on-year.
According to Destatis, German goods worth 43.7 billion euros were exported to countries outside the EU while goods worth 37.8 billion euros were imported from these countries. Compared to August 2018, German exports to "third countries" fell by 4.8 percent while imports went down by 3.6 percent.
Last week, Germany's five leading economic research institutes lowered their joint economic forecast from 0.8 percent GDP growth to only 0.5 percent in 2019.
"The German industry is in a recession," stressed the German economic institutes, which lowered the GDP growth forecast for 2020, from 1.8 percent to 1.1 percent.
