Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel says the German economy is facing major longer-term challenges. “The first two challenges ... are the need to decarbonise the economy and the ageing of our society,” he argued at a change of office ceremony at the Bundesbank’s Regional Office in Saxony and Thuringia. He hailed last week’s rates cut by the ECB Governing Council as the right decision but advised caution, noting that future economic and price developments were still fraught with uncertainty.

The Bundesbank sees the German economy slowly regaining its footing after a roughly two-year period of weakness. Not only will private consumption gradually pick up again, but export business will also improve again from the second half of the year. “The German economy is extricating itself from the period of economic weakness,” Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said on publication of the current Forecast for Germany. According to the forecast, real gross domestic product (GDP) will rise by a calendar-adjusted 0.3% this year.

The finance ministers and central bank governors of the seven leading western industrial countries (G7) met in Stresa, Italy, to exchange views on current issues. Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel and Federal Minister of Finance Christian Lindner held a joint press conference at which the main focus was on the development of the global economy and trade, but other topics on the agenda were current affairs and interest rate developments.

A digital euro will be an immense step forward for our payment system, Joachim Nagel said in an interview with Handelsblatt, Les Échos, Corriere della Sera and El Mundo. "Consumers will have an electronic means of payment that is accepted throughout the euro area, that is very cost-competitive and that places a strong emphasis on privacy."