By: Rolando Calderon Lizarraga, Attorney.
Undoubtedly, Germany is the world’s fourth (4th) largest economy in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) size of USD 3 trillion in the current year according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) data. (2023)
Located in the center of Europe, it is currently the 7th largest country by area and the 2nd most populous country on the continent.
With a rich history and having faced various wars, this country is as old as Europe, initially formed as the Holy Roman Empire until 1806, and united in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War.
The nation withstood two world wars, the second ending after it split into two new countries: the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which at the time was a ceded territory under the domination of the Soviet Union. More so after the Allied victory.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, as a result of “Glaznost” and “Perestroika” (the disintegration of the former Soviet Union), it was united as a single Germany in 1990. It was envisioned years earlier by West Germany’s first left-wing chancellor, Willy Brandt (leader of Germany’s Social Democratic Party).
Germany, economically, joined the European Community (as a founder) in 1957, then the European Union in 1993 and, obviously, is its biggest contributor and its first economy.
Likewise, it enjoys the largest representation in the European Parliament and the so-called European Central Bank, located on its territory (Frankfurt am Main).
Since 2004, it has been reporting a high-value “trade surplus” (the difference between imports and exports) because of its main exports:
Automobiles and Accessories:
US $ 210,000.00
Machines:
US $196,000.00
Chemicals:
US $ 137,000.00
Its largest trading partner is the European Union (67.5% of its exports), its neighbor France imports 10.2% of products and services from Germany, followed by the UK and Italy in second and third place. (Source: Tatsachen-ûber-deutshland.de), in 2021, had a favorable trade balance of 81,839.7 million euros with a coverage rate of 105.48% (Source: Santandertrade.com https://santandertrade.com) .
This enormous volume of exported goods, especially industry, makes it the world’s third largest exporting economy after China and the United States.
According to the figures for 2022, the annual gross domestic product is 4,075,395 (four billion euros), and the annual gross domestic product is 46,180.00 (forty six thousand eight). Source: Expension.com https://datosmacro.expansion.com
As we can see, it is undoubtedly one of the most powerful economies in the world, and it teaches us how to rise as a nation after two lost wars to become what it is today: the engine of Europe.
