Germany-Economic and political outline

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Published: 06 Oct 2008 17:49:53 PST

Economic indicators

GDP Indicators	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
GDP (billions USD)	2749.194	2796.222	2915.867	3259.212	3414.629
GDP (constant prices, annual % change)	1.1	0.8	2.9	2.4	2
GDP per capita (USD)	33323.223	33919.089	35432.743	39649.784	41580.962
General government balance (in % of GDP)	-3.8	-3.4	-1.6	-0.2	-0.5
Inflation rate (%)	1.8	1.9	1.8	2.1	1.8
Unemployment rate (% of the labor force)	8.6	8.6
Current Account (billions USD)	8.6	8.6
Current Account (in % of GDP)	117.988	128.379	147.134	175.371	174.137

Source: IMF - World Economic Outlook Database

Note: (e) Estimated data

Breakdown of economic activity by sector	Agriculture	Industry	Services
Value added (annual % change)	12.43716	3.516863	1.272795
Value added (in % of GDP)		29.10	69.80
Employment by sector(in % of total employment)	2.3%	26.7%	71%

Source: - last available data.

Foreign Trade in figures

Foreign trade indicators	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Imports of goods (millions USD)	484023.6	600060.6	718051.1	789773.4	934036.4
Exports of goods (millions USD)	609778.6	744806	903447	978180.8	1131362
Imports of services (millions USD)	145157.6	172837	195272	207218.1	220840.3
Exports of services (millions USD)	103143.7	123659.1	145963.3	157575.7	174954.7
Imports of goods and services (annual % change)	-1.353351	5.057085	7.006006	5.32691
Exports of goods and services (annual % change)	4.24652	2.415291	9.301299	6.271639
Trade Balance (millions USD)	125755	144745.4	185395.9	188407.4	197325.2
Current Account (millions USD)	40709.53	46593.78	117928.6	128958.8	146874.3
Foreign trade (in % of GDP)	66.85345	67.38282	71.1403	75.25629	67.38282
Imports of goods and services (in % of GDP)	31.16288	31.66775	33.09999	35.13482
Exports of goods and services (in % of GDP)	35.69057	35.71508	38.04031	40.12148

Source:

To see more products: More imports (Intracen Data)
More exports (Intracen Data)

Sources of economic information

Economic Organizations: Statistisches Bundesamt
Deutsche Bundesbank
Deutsche Börse Group
Ministries: Ministry of Finance
Ministry of the Economy and Technology
Ministry of Cooperation and Development
Online newspapers: Handelsblatt
Financial Times Deutschland
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Search Engines: Yahoo!
Google
Abacho
Alles Klar
Altavista
Apollo 7
Bellnet
Lostse
Dino
Fireball
Flix
Klug Suchen
Lycos
Metager
Economic portals: German business portal

Political outline

Executive Power

The Head of government is the Chancellor, who is elected by absolute majority in the Federal Assembly for a four year term.The Chancellor holds the executive power, which includes implementing the law and managing the everyday business of the country. The Federal Ministers (Council of Ministers) are appointed by the president on the recommendation of the Chancellor.

The Head of State is the president; he is elected for a five year term by the Federal Convention (which includes the members of the Federal Assembly and an equal number of delegates elected by the provincial legislatures). The role of the president is mainly ceremonial.

Legislative Power

The legislative power in Germany is bicameral. The parliament is made up of two houses: the Federal Assembly (the lower house), with 613 seats, whose members are elected by universal suffrage combining proportional and direct representation, for a four year term. And the Federal Council (upper house), with 69 seats, whose members are delegates from the 16 provinces of the country for a 4 year term. There are no elections for the Federal Council. Its composition is determined by that of the provincial governments. The government depends directly or indirectly on the support of parliament, generally expressed by a vote of confidence. The Chancellor cannot dissolve parliament directly, but he can recommend its dissolution to the president if there is a vote of no confidence within the Federal Assembly. Legislative power belongs both to the government and the parliament. German citizens enjoy considerable political rights.

Main political parties

- Christian Democratic Union (CDU): conservatives
- Christian-Social Union (CSU): conservatives
- Social Democratic Party (SPD): social democrats
- Free Democratic Party (FDP): liberals
- Bündnis90/die Gruenen: left/green

Current political leaders

President : Horst KOEHLER (since July 2004) CDU, elected for 5 years,
Chancellor : Angela MERKEL (since November 2005) CDU, head of a coalition backed by the CSU and the SPD.

Next election dates