BERLIN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The German economy is expected to grow by 0.5 percent, beating previous estimates by 0.1 percentage, the German Economics Ministry announced on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference for the launch of the spring forecast, German Economics Minister Philipp Roesler said that the latest projection for the gross domestic product (GDP) growth of the European largest economy for 2013 has been revised upwards, from an earlier forecast of a growth rate of 0.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the German GDP will still climb by 1.6 percent for 2014, unchanged from previous growth prediction.
The projection on exports, the major driving force of the German economic growth, turns out to be much more cautious to stand at 1.6 percent this year. However, it would rebound drastically to grow by 5.0 percent in 2014, according to the figures released by the ministry.
German unemployment rate would stand at 6.6 percent this year, with the average number of unemployed remain at 2.9 million this year and further sink to 2.8 million in 2014, according to Roesler, calling that "employment will continue to rise, unemployment will continue to fall."
Despite the moderate economic growth in 2013, the German citizens will have increasing disposable income, which is expected to rise by 2.3 percent and 2.8 percent in 2013 and 2014, respectively, since the wage rise as a result of a sustaining robust labor market would thus propel the increase of the purchasing power of German citizens.
"Germany will continue be a success story and remain an anchor of stability in Europe this year," Roesler said, adding that "there is every reason to be optimistic about the future."
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