Strong exports and durable construction activities resulted in the German economy growing 0.3%, better than expected, in the fourth quarter of last year, but the tightening of lockdown measures in the country and abroad clouded the prospects for Europe's largest economy.
According to Arabiya Net, data issued by the Federal Statistics Office on Wednesday mentioned an amendment to raise an earlier estimate of 0.1% growth over the past quarter.
The office also revised up the GDP figure for the whole year of 2020 to -4.9% from -5.0%.
After adjusting in light of the calendar factors, the German economy shrank 5.3% last year, which is a much smaller contraction compared to many European countries, supported by a strong financial response to the damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The office said that generous debt-financed spending caused a total deficit in the state budget of 139.6 billion euros, or 4.2% of GDP in 2020, the first since 2011 and the second highest since German reunification.
