BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s industrial production rebounded in May, rising by 7.8% on the month after falling by a revised 17.5% in April, the Statistics Office said on Tuesday, in the latest sign that Europe’s largest economy is recovering after lockdown.
The bounce-back, more modest than the 10% rise economists had been forecasting, was led by a 27.6% surge in production of capital goods. Growth was more modest in other areas and factories churned out fewer intermediate goods.
Despite the recovery, production is still well below the levels recorded before the onset of the coronavirus crisis. May output was down 19% in calendar- and season-adjusted terms on February, the month before lockdown measures were imposed.
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Michelle Martin)
