Speaking on the sidelines of the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann voiced his opposition to proposals for economic policy measures to counteract German current account surpluses. It would be "absurd", Weidmann said, to discuss measures aimed at artificially weakening German competitiveness.

The foreign direct investment stocks reached a new peak at year-end 2017. In 2017, Germany’s primary outward foreign direct investment (FDI) grew considerably by €61 billion and reached a new peak of €1,167 billion at the end of that year. In the opposite direction, inward FDI in Germany rose by €32 billion, likewise achieving its highest ever recorded value (€741 billion).

Der Leistungsbilanzüberschuss hat 2011 gegenüber dem Vorjahr leicht abgenommen; er belief sich mit 148 Mrd € auf 5¾ % des Bruttoinlandsprodukts. Der Aktivsaldo der Handelsbilanz veränderte sich trotz des aus realer Sicht erneuten Wachstumsvorsprungs der Ausfuhren gegenüber den Einfuhren nur unwesentlich.

Bundesbank Executive Board member Joachim Wuermeling is calling for the financial centres of the European Union to come together to work as a single networked financial platform. At present, their overall potential is spread across the entire continent, he writes in an oped for the Handelsblatt. In his view, a digital financial market union "would be a highly ambitious new project that would be worth the effort to make it work".