Starting in the second quarter of 2020, the Federal Statistical Office will for the first time publish the gross domestic product (GDP) 30 days after the end of the quarter (press release on 30 July 2020) and thus about two weeks earlier than before.
This is the Federal Statistical Office's response to user demand for more quickly available but nevertheless reliable GDP figures. Especially in times of crisis such as the current corona pandemic, up-to-date fact-based economic data are indispensable for users from politics, business, society, science and the media. Up to now, first official results on the overall economic development in Germany were available 45 days after the end of the quarter with the publication of the GDP. The Statistical Office of the European Union, Eurostat, has been publishing a so-called "Preliminary Flash Estimate" for the GDP of the European Union (EU) and the eurozone 30 days after the end of the quarter since 2016. For this purpose, the Federal Statistical Office has so far supplied data internally, which will now also be published at national level.
Please find more information on the quality of the GDP flash estimate and on why the Federal Statistical Office starts publishing an early GDP estimate in these difficult times of the corona pandemic in this podcast (podcast only in German, transcript (shortened version) in English).