At the end of 2023, Germany’s net external assets totalled €2,964 billion, thus amounting to just over 70% of Germany’s nominal gross domestic product (GDP). Overall, both assets and liabilities vis-à-vis non-residents rose further in 2023.

The Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank did not raise any objections to the nomination of Dr Fritzi Köhler-Geib as a member of the Executive Board. The outcome of the consultation has been communicated to the Bundesrat.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €16.0 billion in July 2024, down €4.6 billion on the previous month’s level. This was attributable to a lower goods account surplus and a higher deficit in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income.

The Bundesbank is once again offering the public a glimpse backstage. On 14 and 15 September, the German central bank is hosting an Open Day at its Regional Office in Hesse in Frankfurt’s city centre.

With effect from Monday, 2 September 2024, Dr Sabine Mauderer was appointed First Deputy Governor of the Bundesbank. Furthermore, Lutz Lienenkämper and Michael Theurer joined the Bundesbank’s Executive Board. The responsibilities within the Executive Board have therefore been reallocated. The following reallocation of responsibilities comes into effect

The Bundesbank has now launched the digital exhibition “From Brutus to Brandt – Coins as eyewitness and testament to our past”, which provides insight into the role that coins play as communicators of historical events.

Germany’s current account posted a surplus of € 23.2 billion in June 2024, up € 4.9 billion on the previous month’s level. The goods account surplus decreased, yet the deficit in invisible current transactions narrowed to a far greater extent.

On Friday, 26 July 2024, the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank was consulted pursuant to Section 7(3) of the Bundesbank Act on the nomination of Dr Sabine Mauderer as Vice-President and Mr Michael Theurer as Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank.

In the period from January to June 2024, the Bundesbank removed significantly more counterfeit money from circulation in Germany than in the six months prior, detecting around 38,600 counterfeit euro banknotes with a nominal value of €2.4 million. This was 29% more than in the second half of 2023. Meanwhile, the total loss arising from counterfeit banknotes was only slightly up, by just under 5%. The increase was driven by easily identifiable counterfeits, especially of €10 and €20 banknotes, said Burkhard Balz, the Bundesbank’s Executive Board member whose remit includes cash management.

The number of card payments has continued to grow steadily since the end of the pandemic. In 2023, it rose by almost 16 % on the previous year to 11.8 billion transactions.