Cash continues to be the most frequently used means of payment in Germany, although cashless payments are increasing their share. These are the findings of the Bundesbank’s sixth study on payment behaviour in Germany for 2021. Respondents used banknotes and coins to make a total of 58% of their payments for purchases of goods and services, compared with 74% in the Bundesbank’s last major study from 2017. The lower use of cash was mainly due to the increase in online purchases during the coronavirus pandemic.

Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel has cautioned against using monetary policy instruments to limit risk premia. “Unusual monetary policy measures to combat fragmentation can be justified only in exceptional circumstances and under narrowly-defined conditions,” he said at the Frankfurt Euro Finance Summit.

The fourth event in the “Designing climate policies” series saw experts from academia, politics and public institutions discuss how the ecological transformation can be financed. Bundesbank Vice-President Claudia Buch kicked off the event, which the Bundesbank organised jointly with the Center for Liberal Modernity and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel has warned that central banks must not respond to the current high inflation rates with too little, too late. “If monetary policy falls behind the curve, even stronger hikes in interest rates could become necessary to get inflation under control,” he said at the Joint Spring Conference co-hosted by the Bundesbank and the Banque de France in Eltville am Rhein. “This would create much higher economic costs,” he cautioned.