Since the beginning of the financial crisis in summer 2007, it has become a particularly challenging endeavour to analyse and forecast price developments. In Germany, as in most of the other large industrial countries, the inflation rate fell considerably during the Great Recession. Once the economy rebounded, inflation went up again rather quickly until the end of 2011; in 2012, it fell noticeably again and has remained surprisingly low amidst the positive developments in the labour market.

As at the end of December 2015, households' financial assets amounted to €5,318 billion; this figure was €105 billion (or 2.0%) higher than at the end of the third quarter.

Die Europäische Zentralbank (EZB) ernennt Anne-Sylvie Catherin, 46, zur Leiterin der Generaldirektion Personal. Sie tritt ihr neues Amt spätestens am 1. September 2016 an und untersteht Michael Diemer, dem Chief Services Officer.

Consumer prices have hardly increased and have even fallen at times of late. A key reason for this is the strong decline in the oil price, making fuel and heating distinctly cheaper for consumers. For monetary policy makers, this is a clear sign to look at inflation more closely.

Last year saw a continuation of the consolidation process in the German banking sector. Over the course of 2015, the overall number of credit institutions (in Germany) fell by 30 to 1,960 institutions. This corresponds to a 1.5% decline in 2015 compared with a drop of 1.9% in 2014.

Gemäß der Berichtspflichten der ESZB-Satzung wird von der Europäischen Zentralbank (EZB) wöchentlich ein konsolidierter Ausweis des Eurosystems veröffentlicht. Dieser soll den Nutzern als Informationsquelle im Zusammenhang mit den geldpolitischen Operationen, den Devisengeschäften und der Investitionstätigkeit dienen. Zudem sind darin Angaben über die Liquiditätsströme enthalten.