Die deutsche Wirtschaftsleistung ist im vierten Quartal 2025 deutlich gestiegen, heißt es im Monatsbericht. Getragen wurde der Anstieg zum Jahresende insbesondere vom privaten und staatlichen Konsum. Den privaten Haushalten kamen dabei wohl auch die kräftigen Lohnzuwächse zugute. Die Industrie konnte ihre Produktion ausweiten und die Bauproduktion erhöhte sich deutlich. Auf dem Arbeitsmarkt ist nach Einschätzung der Fachleute kurzfristig keine Trendwende zum Besseren zu erkennen. Die Inflationsrate lag zum Jahreswechsel bei etwa 2 Prozent.

German banks tightened their credit standards for loans to enterprises in the fourth quarter of 2025 to an extent not seen since 2023. This is revealed by the Bundesbank's most recent round of the Bank Lending Survey. The banks pointed to the renewed rise in credit risk as the reason for this tightening.

Once a year, teachers are invited to the Bundesbank to talk about current central banking issues. Lutz Lienenkämper, the Executive Board member whose responsibilities include economic education, conferred with teachers about financial literacy in schools, the current stance of monetary policy and the digital euro.

The German banking sector is currently stable overall, with sound capital and liquidity buffers – that’s good news, Bundesbank Executive Board member Michael Theurer stressed at the digital supervisory briefing, an event organised by the Bundesbank and BaFin. Together with Annika Sattler from the Bundesbank, Theurer and BaFin Chief Executive Director Nikolas Speer spoke about the risk situation, simplification and proportionality. Participants from the worlds of banking and supervision numbered more than 5,000 at times during the digital supervisory briefing, which was streamed live.