Cash continues to be the most frequently used means of payment in Germany, although cashless payments are increasing their share. These are the findings of the Bundesbank’s sixth study on payment behaviour in Germany for 2021. Respondents used banknotes and coins to make a total of 58% of their payments for purchases of goods and services, compared with 74% in the Bundesbank’s last major study from 2017. The lower use of cash was mainly due to the increase in online purchases during the coronavirus pandemic.

The German current account recorded a surplus of €20.8 billion in February 2022, up €8.4 billion on the previous month’s level. This was mainly attributable to an increase in the goods account surplus. Conversely, the surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income, contracted slightly. 

Professor Dr. Axel A. Weber, President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, Speech at the Norges Bank Conference on Monetary Policy

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €11.0 billion in January 2022, down €13.6 billion on the previous month’s level. The surplus in the goods account declined considerably, with the surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income, contracting even more strongly.

Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel has warned of persistently high inflation. “Even before the war against Ukraine, the inflation rate was very high. [...] Given the surge in energy prices on account of the war, consumer price inflation is likely to pick up again substantially, particularly in the near term,” Mr Nagel said in a speech delivered at a change of office ceremony in Hanover. As members of the ECB Governing Council, he remarked, we must now ensure that the strong inflation does not become entrenched and does not lead to excessively high inflation in the medium term.