The April 2022 Monthly Report explains the development of the debt situation in the euro area’s private non-financial sector since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and describes possibilities for the stability-oriented further development of the central government’s debt brake. Furthermore, the Monthly Report analyses the current developments in the demand for euro banknotes at the Bundesbank and contains a contribution on the possible macroeconomic consequences of the war in Ukraine: simulations of an intensified risk scenario. 

The macro-financial environment has deteriorated substantially over the course of 2022. It has been shaped by subdued growth prospects, high inflation as well as rising interest rates and risk premia.