Sluggish economic growth and the rising fortunes of euro caused a significant dip in Germany's exports in August, second month in a row.
According to data released by the Federal Statistics Office of Germany, the country saw a dip of 0.4 percent in exports from July, when they dropped 1.6 percent. The total imports of the country saw an up tick of 0.9 percent from July, when they declined 2.2 percent.
German exports surged 26.8 percent in the month of August from a year earlier with the total exports to the 16-member euro area seeing a rise of 16.5 percent; sales to countries outside the European Union rose 40.8 percent.
Germany's economy may show signs of decline after seeing significant rise in exports in the second quarter that blanketed the economic faultiness. There is an aggregate rise in factory orders and industrial output has also increased in August but the appreciating euro may sound trouble for Europe's largest exporter. German goods are now considered less competitive in the foreign markets and the austerity measures adopted by its neighbors are also hurting the sales.
Global economy outlook remains weak as the International Monetary Fund cut its world economic expansion to 4.2 percent from the earlier forecast of 4.3 percent on Oct. 6. Analysts say Germany may have to change its focus from Europe and North America to Asia in order to boost its growth.
According to a forecast by the Bundesbank, German economic expansion is expected to remain around 3 percent in 2010.
