The October 2012 monthly report contains: The financial crisis and balance of payments developments within the euro area; The development of state government finances in Germany since 2005; The importance of trade credit for corporate financing in Germany – evidence from financial statements statistics; The use of cash and cashless payment instruments: a microeconomic analysis.

The November 2019 edition of the Monthly Report comments on the economic situation in Germany in autumn 2019.

Are the exchange rates between certain currencies more closely connected than those of other currencies? Answers to this question can be provided by econometric methods. A new study shows how machine learning can deliver useful insights into this issue.

Implementing a minimum exchange rate regime by buying foreign currency eases monetary conditions domestically and may thus have a direct impact on the inflation rate. However, such foreign currency purchases involve a risky expansion of the central bank’s balance sheet total. A new model can now predict what expansion of the balance sheet a central bank must expect if it wishes to implement a minimum exchange rate in the foreign exchange market.