In the first half of 2023, the Bundesbank withdrew approximately 26,700 counterfeit euro banknotes with a nominal value of just under €2.9 million from circulation in Germany. This was 10% more counterfeit banknotes than in the second half of 2022. The number of counterfeit €200 and €500 banknotes rose in particular. “The incidence of counterfeit banknotes is still low, however. Statistically speaking, there were six counterfeit banknotes per 10,000 inhabitants,” stated Burkhard Balz, the Bundesbank Executive Board member responsible for cash management.

Abandoning the 2% inflation target would be a grave mistake, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel told the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland media network in an interview. Commenting on the digital euro, he expects we will be able to use it to shop online and make person-to-person payments in four to five years’ time.

The current Monthly Report explores the factors influencing payment flows to and from Germany and how the banking system ensures that the required payments take place. The Bundesbank’s experts are in favour of excess liquidity being scaled back by the Eurosystem in the coming years to a point where the private interbank market can regain importance in the European payments space.

German economic output is likely to have gone up slightly again in the second quarter of 2023, according to the Monthly Report. Private consumption has stabilised after previously having fallen. According to the experts, the fact that the labour market remained in good shape, wages rose sharply and price inflation did not continue to accelerate contributed to this development. Meanwhile, the decline in foreign demand was a drag on industry and the rise in funding costs dampened domestic investment. The Bundesbank is expecting the economy to recover haltingly later in the year.