Overview
- Germany’s preliminary accounts, released Monday by state offices, showed real GDP up 0.2% in 2025, meaning the inflation‑adjusted value of goods and services barely grew.
- Top gains included Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern at 1.4% alongside Bremen at 1.4%, Berlin at 1.1%, Hamburg at 0.8% and Schleswig‑Holstein at 0.9%, and North Rhine‑Westphalia edged up 0.3%.
- Baden‑Württemberg shrank 0.6%, Saarland fell 0.9% and Brandenburg slipped 0.2%, underscoring a sharp split between better‑performing northern and city states and weaker industrial regions.
- Services provided the lift as nationwide manufacturing contracted 1.0% and construction fell 2.9%, with notable contrasts such as Hamburg’s factory output rising 3.5% and construction there plunging 7.3% alongside deeper drops in Schleswig‑Holstein and NRW.
- State statisticians labeled the data provisional and noted large past revisions in smaller states like Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern, while business groups urged a growth agenda and researchers cited higher energy costs from the war as a source of 2026 uncertainty.