Denmark’s economy returned to growth in the second quarter as drugmakers raised their output, illustrating the Scandinavian country’s dependence on its pharmaceutical industry.
Gross domestic product rose 0.6% from the previous three months, Statistics Denmark said on Tuesday in a preliminary reading. The expansion was driven by drug companies which also drove a 1% contraction in the previous quarter.
Denmark’s flourishing drugmaking industry, mostly known for Novo Nordisk’s popular weight-loss drugs and Bavarian Nordic A/S’s mpox vaccine, is an important growth driver the Nordic country. It was responsible for half of the economy’s expansion last year when Denmark was one of the fastest growing in western Europe.
Pharmaceutical companies play a “disproportionately large role” in the Danish industrial production, causing “large fluctuations” in national GDP figures from quarter to quarter, Palle Sorensen, chief analyst at Nykredit, said in a note.
Production by Danish drugmakers rose 8.5% over the quarter, according to data released earlier this month, following a significant drop the previous quarter.