The November 2020 edition of the Monthly Report comments on the economic situation in Germany in autumn 2020.

The Bundesbank’s October 2019 Monthly Report reviews and analyses the market for sustainable financial investments, as well as studying the European investment funds market and the role of bond funds in the low interest rate environment. Furthermore, it describes the long-term outlook for the statutory pension insurance scheme and explains structural reforms in the euro area.

Financial repression is intended to help the government deleverage over time, for example following crises, by artificially lowering the yield on government bonds. However, its impact on the deb-to-GDP ratio also depends on how it affects the economy as a whole, as financial repression also influences private investment and saving decisions. In view of these macroeconomic interrelationships, financial repression can lead to a net rise in the government debt-to-GDP ratio. A new study suggests that this is what happened in the United States following the Second World War.