Germany
Germany Experienced Serious Recession in 2009
Germany, the largest economy in Europe experienced serious recession in 2009. The economy shrank for the first time in 6 years and the decline in the price-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) was the largest since World War II according to latest data from Destatis.
From the news release:
“This is shown by first calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The economic slump occurred mainly in the winter half-year of 2008/2009. Over the year, there were signs that the economic development would slightly stabilise on the new, lower level. In 2008 the GDP had slightly been up by 1.3%, in 2007 by 2.5% and in 2006 even by 3.2%.
What was striking in 2009 is that both exports and capital formation in machinery and equipment slumped heavily. Foreign trade, which in previous years had been a major driving force for growth in the German economy, slowed down economic development in 2009. While exports were down a price-adjusted 14.7%, the decrease was just 8.9% for imports. Hence the balance of exports and imports made a negative contribution to GDP growth, as it had done in 2008.”
Germany’s Top Trading Partners in 2008
Which countries are the top trading partners of Germany in 2008?
For USA, the top trading partners are her neighbor Canada and Mexico. Germany is the largest economy in Europe and is a manufacturing powerhouse in many industries. Any European economic recovery is heavily dependent of the growth of Germany economy.
Similar to the US, Germany’s top trading partners are nearby countries. For Imports, the top three countries are the Netherlands, France and China.The top three countries for Germany’s exports are France, USA and the UK in 2008.
Source: Federal Statistic Office, Germany
China does not appear in the top 10 countries importing German goods. Last year Germany imported goods worth 59B Euros from China. Holland was the top country for sourcing goods and services with a total of 72B Euros.
France was the top destination for German exports with a net total of 97B Euros followed by US at 71B Euros.
From the Stats Office release:
“About three quarters of exports of goods “made in Germany” were shipped to European countries. 64% of all goods were delivered to the member states of the European Union. The second important sales market for German goods in 2008 was Asia with a share of about 12%, followed by America, with a share of approximately 10%. Africa and Australia / Oceania only accounted for small percentages of German exports (2% and 1%, respectively).
The majority of German imports also came from Europe (72%), followed by Asia (16%) and America (9%). Goods from Africa and Australia / Oceania played just a subordinate role in imports too (3% and 0.4%, respectively).”
Tax Revenue in Germany by Tax Types 2008
The Tax Revenue in Germany by Tax Types chart for 2008 shows that the largest tax type is turnover tax. This tax is “similar to a sales tax or a VAT, with the difference that it taxes intermediate and possibly capital goods.” Unlike a sales tax, turnover tax is assessed when the manufacture of a product is completed.
The second largest tax type was wage tax at about 142B Euros. Tobacco users also contributed one of the highest tax types with a total of 13.6 B Euros.
Germany Tax Revenue by Tax Type 2008
From the Statistics Germany:
“In 2008 the Federal Republic of Germany had cash tax revenues of 561.2 billion euro in total. The largest share was contributed by community taxes with 396.5 billion euro, of which the most important one was the turnover tax (including import turnover tax) with 176.0 billion euro.”
