German Economy Grows by 1.9% in 2016 on Higher Spending Thanks to Refugees

German economy grew by 1.9 percent of the gross domestic product amid a large number of people seeking refuge immigrated, which resulted in considerable costs, according to the federal statistics office Destatis.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Refugee-linked spending fueled the German economy last year causing it to grow by 1.9 percent of the gross domestic product, figures provided by the federal statistics office Destatis showed Thursday.

"One of the reasons for this strong growth is that a large number of people seeking refuge immigrated, which resulted in considerable costs. Final consumption expenditure rose a total 2.5%," the federal agency said in a report.

Germany’s performance was slightly better than in 2015 and in 2014 when the economy expanded respectively by 1.7 percent and 1.6 percent. The preliminary estimate for 2016 also shows a 0.5 percent improvement on the average 1.4 percent in the past ten years.