Der Beginn der Impfkampagnen im gesamten Euroraum ist ein wichtiger Meilenstein bei der Bewältigung der derzeitigen Gesundheitskrise. Dennoch birgt die Pandemie nach wie vor ernsthafte Risiken für das Gesundheitswesen und für die Wirtschaft des Euroraums sowie die Weltwirtschaft. 

Der EZB-Rat hat beschlossen, seinen sehr akkommodierenden geldpolitischen Kurs nochmals zu bestätigen.

Growth in labour productivity in the euro area has slowed significantly over the past 20 years. This was not least due to structural factors, the Bundesbank explains in its current Monthly Report. In addition to enterprises’ diminishing ability to innovate and adapt, demographic change could also have a negative impact on labour productivity, according to the experts.

According to the current issue of the Monthly Report, in the final quarter of 2020 Germany's economic recovery was throttled by the higher infection rates and considerably stricter measures introduced again to contain the pandemic. However, in the experts’ assessment, the tighter restrictions have not led to any major setback; instead, real gross domestic product is likely to have more or less stagnated. The pandemic left a deep mark on German economic output in 2020 as a whole.

Many citizens have adjusted their payment behaviour during the coronavirus pandemic. “According to a representative Bundesbank survey in 2020, the importance of cashless payment methods, especially cards, in everyday expenditures has been growing considerably,” said Burkhard Balz, the member of the Bundesbank Executive Board responsible for cashless payments.

Laut der Umfrage zum Kreditgeschäft im Euro-Währungsgebiet vom Januar 2021 wurden die Kreditrichtlinien im vierten Quartal 2020 über alle Kategorien hinweg – also für Unternehmenskredite, Wohnungsbaukredite an private Haushalte sowie Konsumentenkredite und sonstige Kredite an private Haushalte – verschärft.