英语文摘：Germany enjoys record growth in 2nd quarter

BERLIN, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- German economy has seen a rapid recovery in the second quarter, as the gross domestic product (GDP) registered a growth of 2.2 percent compared with the first quarter, a record in the reunified nation, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Friday.

"Such a quarter-on-quarter growth has never been recorded before in reunified Germany. At the same time, the result for the first quarter of 2010 was revised substantially upwards, now showing a 0.5 percent increase," said Wiesbaden-based Destatis.

"Hence the recovery of the German economy, which lost momentum at the turn of 2009/2010, is really back on track," said Destatis.

Compared with the same period last year, the real GDP in the second quarter enjoyed a 4.1-percent increase.

"Capital formation and foreign trade contributed most strongly to the positive development," said Destatis, while expenditure of household and government also contributed to the GDP growth.

During the second quarter, more people were employed than the same period last year. Destatis said the total number of the employed reached 40.3 million, 72,000 more, or 0.2 percent higher, than a year earlier.

The sound performance of the German economy in the second quarter has been widely expected, as many good economic data on foreign trade, investment, employment have been published earlier.

Rolf J. Langhammer, vice president of Kiel Institute for the World Economy, predicted several weeks ago that "Germany will reach its recovery peak in the second quarter, and then its recovery will gradually slows down in the next half year."