| Zusammenfassung: | In the fourth quarter, real GDP expanded by 0.8 percent compared with the previous quarter and by 2.7 percent compared with a year before. Over the whole of 2010, the economy grew by 2 percent. Exports and manufacturing remain the key drivers of the economic recovery. Equipment investment is also slowly beginning to pick up; the construction industry, by contrast, remains in recession. Private consumption rose also during the 2008-09 recession and was thus an important stabilising factor for the economy; it now continues to grow at a modest pace. The recovery in the labour market is also continuing. The number of unemployed persons has fallen by 31,000 from its peak, thus offsetting half of the increase triggered by the recession. The increase in world market prices for commodities (oil, agricultural goods, metals) is already feeding through noticeably into consumer prices: In January, inflation reached 2.4 percent.
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