At the end of 2017, German households’ financial assets amounted to €5,857 billion, up by €78 billion, or 1.4%, on the third quarter of the year.

Jens Weidmann paid tribute to the achievements of Hans-Werner Sinn, the long-serving President of the ifo Institute. Mr Weidmann told the audience at a symposium held to mark Professor Sinn's retirement from office as President of the ifo Institute that he had played a major part in shaping the economic and political debate of the past few decades.

In the latest Monthly Report, the Bundesbank’s payment specialists look at distributed ledger technology (DLT).

Using the filetransfer function, reporting parties can transmit payment and stock reports in data record formats (data upload via browser or automated access) to the Bundesbank in a secure electronic format. The filetransfer function is based on the ExtraNet infrastructure.

Germany’s current account posted a surplus of €17.6 billion in July 2021, down €5.0 billion on the previous month’s level. Although the surplus in the goods account rose, the surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise primary and secondary income as well as services, declined significantly.

In July, the surplus in the goods account increased by €1.1 billion on the month to €17.5 billion, with imports of goods contracting more sharply than exports.