German economy sees stronger growth in 3rd quarter

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s economy saw stronger growth in the third quarter than expected as consumer spending picked up following the lifting of pandemic restrictions. Officials figures released Friday show gross domestic product in Europe’s biggest economy grew by 0.4% from July to September, 0.1 percentage points higher than previously forecast. GDP is a widely used measure of the production of goods and services in a country, but critics say it provides only a one-sided account of how an economy is going. The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has acknowledged that GDP “falls short of providing a suitable measure of people’s material well-being for which alternative indicators may be more appropriate.”