The German current account recorded a surplus of €20.8 billion in February 2022, up €8.4 billion on the previous month’s level. This was mainly attributable to an increase in the goods account surplus. Conversely, the surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income, contracted slightly. 

German banks tightened their credit standards for loans to enterprises marginally in the first quarter 2022. The banks also applied stricter standards for loans to households for house purchase. Meanwhile, credit standards for consumer credit and other lending remained unchanged.

Ingrid Herden, who will be joining the Bundesbank in June, will be taking over as Director General Communications and the President’s spokesperson on 1 October 2022 from Michael Best, who is leaving the Bundesbank at the end of September after 11 years of service.
 

The Bundesbank’s landscape architecture competition for the new campus at its Central Office in Frankfurt am Main has come to a close. An expert jury selected four prize winners and awarded one honourable mention out of a total of 16 submitted designs.

In the second year of the coronavirus pandemic, general government debt in Germany as defined in the Maastricht Treaty increased by €162 billion to €2.476 trillion. Growth was therefore weaker than in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €11.0 billion in January 2022, down €13.6 billion on the previous month’s level. The surplus in the goods account declined considerably, with the surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income, contracting even more strongly.

The Deutsche Bundesbank, acting on behalf of all the central banks that belong to the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), has successfully completed the procurement of climate-related data.

The European Central Bank (ECB) and the Deutsche Bundesbank are lending their support to a concert promoting peace organised by the Berlin State Opera together with its orchestra and choir under the musical direction of Daniel Barenboim. The concert will take place in Berlin at 11:00 on Sunday, 6 March 2022.

The Deutsche Bundesbank has presented a balanced result for the year 2021. As in the previous year, the Bank is not transferring any profit to the Federal budget. Explaining this decision, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said it was necessary to further increase the risk provisions on account of the emergency monetary policy measures taken to counter the impact of the pandemic

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €23.9 billion in December 2021, up €5.4 billion on the previous month’s level. The surplus in the goods account declined, but the surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income, increased considerably more strongly.

The German banks left their credit standards for loans to enterprises and for consumer credit and other lending to households unchanged in the fourth quarter of 2021. Credit standards for loans to households for house purchase were marginally tightened.

In 2021, the Bundesbank registered approximately 42,000 counterfeit euro banknotes with a nominal value of €1.9 million in German payments. The number of counterfeits thus fell by 28.6% on the year, and the nominal value of the banknotes seized decreased by 34.5%. 

Das Geldvermögen der privaten Haushalte ist im dritten Quartal 2021 um 73 Milliarden Euro auf 7.399 Milliarden Euro gestiegen. Im Vergleich zu den Vorquartalen war das Wachstum unter Berücksichtigung sämtlicher Transaktionen und Bewertungsänderungen somit merklich schwächer.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €18.9 billion in November 2021, up €1.3 billion on the previous month’s level. The surplus in the goods account declined slightly, but the surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income, increased more strongly. 

The Deutsche Bundesbank calculates the basic rate of interest in pursuant to statutory requirements and publishes its current level in the Federal Gazette. 

The consultation regarding the nomination of Dr Joachim Nagel as President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, took place on Wednesday. The Executive Board did not raise any objections and is looking forward to working together with Dr Nagel.

The German economy will experience a setback in the final quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 on account of the pandemic, but is set to pick up significant momentum again in spring of next year. “The upswing has been slightly delayed,” said Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann at the presentation of his institution’s current projections. According to these projections, gross domestic product will increase by 2.5% this year – less strongly than anticipated back in June – in light of the dip in growth. Over the next two years, calendar adjusted economic growth will then rebound to 4.2% and 3.2%, respectively.