In the first half of 2020, the Bundesbank recorded approximately 34,000 counterfeit euro banknotes with a nominal value of €1.6 million. Although this means that the number of counterfeits rose significantly on the year, their volume remained low overall.

The German economy saw only marginal growth in the third quarter of 2019. According to the Bundesbank’s latest Monthly Report, this persistently weak growth – gross domestic product (GDP) was up by 0.1% on the preceding quarter – was due to the ongoing sluggishness in the export-oriented industrial sector.

In the view of Andreas Dombret, Executive Board member of the Bundesbank, the robust governance of the banking sector can help restore market forces and foster confidence. However, he pointed out that supervisors' and regulators' area of competence also has boundaries. "The red line has to be drawn where entrepreneurial responsibility and market forces should prevail," Mr Dombret said in an address to the Savings Bank Conference in Potsdam.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann says that non-standard monetary policy measures can have a variety of effects on income and wealth distribution. “Much like conventional interest rate policy, the non-standard measures are more likely to have reduced income inequality,” he said in a speech in Hamburg.