It is often said that wage moderation in Germany was the primary cause of the current account imbalances in the euro area that emerged prior to the financial crisis. A new study puts this hypothesis to the test.

Electronic submission of stock reports on residents' assets abroad and non-residents' assets in Germany.

One of the Bundesbank's tasks is to collect monetary, financial and external sector statistical data, comprehensive sets of indicators and seasonally adjusted business statistics. For macroeconomic analysis relevant data are then fed into the macroeconomic time series published in the time series databases.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €24.0 billion in December 2024, up €2.1 billion on the previous month’s level. The surplus in the goods account decreased sharply, but the surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income, increased more strongly.

The Bundesbank has been collecting annual statistics on foreign direct investment stocks (DI) in accordance with the provisions of the Foreign Trade and Payments Regulation (Außenwirtschaftsverordnung) since 1976 and publishes aggregated results in the Bundesbank's Special Statistical Publication 10.