Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €26.3 billion in September 2020, up €9.7 billion from the previous month’s level.

Times of strong growth and low interest rates have seen vulnerabilities build up in the German financial system. In addition, the probability of an economic downturn has increased. “Now is the time to build up sufficient capital and strengthen the financial system’s defences,” said Bundesbank Vice-President Claudia Buch at the press conference on the publication of the new Financial Stability Review.

Im Mai zog die Inflation erneut kräftig an, was vor allem auf – auch wegen der Auswirkungen des Krieges – stark steigende Energie- und Nahrungsmittelpreise zurückzuführen ist. Der Inflationsdruck hat jedoch an Breite und Intensität gewonnen, was sich in erheblichen Preissteigerungen bei zahlreichen Waren und Dienstleistungen zeigt. Fachleute des Eurosystems haben ihre Basisprojektionen zur Inflationsentwicklung deutlich nach oben korrigiert.

A new weekly activity index (WAI) published by the Bundesbank is designed to measure real economic activity in Germany in a timely manner. Measured by the WAI, economic activity between 16 March and 14 June 2020 was 7.4% below the activity recorded between 16 December 2019 and 15 March 2020.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €22.5 billion in October 2020, down €2.7 billion from the previous month’s level.