At the end of 2022, Germany’s primary outward foreign direct investment (FDI) stocks were higher than at the end of 2021, by just under 3% to €1,634 billion net. Inward FDI was also up on its end-2021 level, rising by 6.5% to €956 billion. Although Germany’s FDI assets indicated significantly weaker investment activity than in the year prior, it recorded an overall increase of €75 billion in 2023 (2022: €170 billion). The increase of German liabilities was €15 billion, which is one-quarter of the previous year’s figure.

Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel says the German economy is facing major longer-term challenges. The first two challenges ... are the need to decarbonise the economy and the ageing of our society, he argued at a change of office ceremony at the Bundesbank’s Regional Office in Saxony and Thuringia. He hailed last week’s rates cut by the ECB Governing Council as the right decision but advised caution, noting that future economic and price developments were still fraught with uncertainty.