Industrial orders in Germany doubled compared to forecasts

German industrial orders strengthened more markedly in January than expected. This is seen as a promising sign of the strength of Europe's largest economy. The Federal Statistical Office said on Friday that seasonally and calendar-adjusted orders for the country's industry had risen 1.4 percent month-on-month. This growth was twice as high as economists had predicted. Orders on the domestic market fell by 2.6 percent, but orders from abroad increased by 4.2 percent. The German economy is doing better than several other economies within the 19-member euro area. It was supported by industry, which was less affected by the coronavirus pandemic than the service sector. Last week, the German statistical office reported that the country's economy strengthened by 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter in the final quarter of last year. It was a better performance than originally estimated. This means that for the whole of last year, German gross domestic product fell by 4.9 percent. The original estimate indicated that the decline was 5 percent.