As a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, parents in Germany received a series of transfer payments from the state in 2020 and 2021. This so-called child bonus (“Kinderbonus”) amounted to a total of €450 per child. A new study finds that the child bonus led to only a slight increase in household spending. Therefore, the child bonus should be seen less as a fiscal stimulus measure and more as an instrument of redistribution from the general population to families.

Beginning on 30 June, the Deutsche Bundesbank’s numismatic collection will be presenting a special exhibition on the topic of “Money Creators”: at six stations, visitors can learn more about the key people and institutions who, as “money creators”, decide what counts as money. The exhibition will be on display until the end of May 2022.

Cash continues to be the most frequently used means of payment in Germany, although cashless payments are increasing their share. These are the findings of the Bundesbank’s sixth study on payment behaviour in Germany for 2021. Respondents used banknotes and coins to make a total of 58% of their payments for purchases of goods and services, compared with 74% in the Bundesbank’s last major study from 2017. The lower use of cash was mainly due to the increase in online purchases during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has issued a general administrative act regarding the domestic countercyclical buffer rate. The rate was lowered from 0.25% to 0% with effect from 1 April 2020. 

Die Europäische Zentralbank (EZB) hat mit der kroatischen Zentralbank (Hrvatska narodna banka, HNB) und der rumänischen Zentralbank (Banca Naţională a României, BNR) vereinbart, die jeweiligen Euro-Liquiditätslinien um sechs Monate bis Ende Juni 2021 zu verlängern.

Die Studie mit dem Titel „Euro money market study 2020“ kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass sich die Aktivität am Euro-Geldmarkt nach wie vor auf das besicherte Segment und Devisenswaps konzentriert.