The Federal Statistics Office said on Thursday the preliminary quarter-on-quarter rise was led by increases in private and public consumption, construction and net trade, as a slump in imports outpaced a decline in exports.
Europe's largest economy had been in its sharpest recession since the war, with GDP declining for four consecutive quarters. A record GDP contraction in the first quarter was revised up to a fall of 3.5 percent from 3.8 percent previously.
Year-on-year, the economy shrank by 7.1 percent in the second quarter, the data showed, following a 6.4 percent drop in the January-March period. Economists polled last week by Reuters had expected GDP to contract by 0.3 percent on the quarter and post a 7.3 percent drop year-on-year.
The government expects the economy to contract by some six percent this year. However, the Economy Ministry had said before the publication of the GDP figures that the economy probably stabilized in the second quarter.
Adjusted for working days, German GDP contracted by 5.9 percent on the year in the second quarter. In the first quarter, it shrank by 6.7 percent. The Office is due to publish a detailed breakdown of the second quarter GDP data on August 25.
