Industrial output in Germany fell for the third consecutive month in May, indicating that Europe's largest economy will not recover in an even way, official data showed Monday.
Adjusted for inflation, and seasonal and calendar variations, German industrial production declined by 1.8 percent in May from the previous month, when the output was down by a revised 0.3 percent, according to the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).
Production has been falling for three months in a row. Economists forecast earlier that Germany's industrial sector would see an unchanged production volume in May.
"After a strong first quarter, production has temporarily weakened in the production sector in recent months," the Economics Ministry said in a statement, attributing the May decline to weakness in the construction sector and "geopolitical reasons."
According to Destatis, production in the construction sector decreased by 4.9 percent in May from the previous month. Intermediate goods and consumer goods declined by 3 percent and 3.5 percent respectively. Capital goods, meanwhile, saw a slight increase of 0.3 percent.
The Economics Ministry insisted that the overall shape of Germany's economy was good and the "upswing of the industry would continue in the rest of the year following a weaker second quarter."
The German economy was expected to slow down in the second quarter of 2014, following a growth of 0.8 percent during the first three months. For the whole year of 2014, however, Germany's gross domestic product is forecast to increase by 1.8 percent.