The Bundesbank’s TARGET2 balance has been growing again significantly since March. It exceeded the €1 trillion mark in July. This renewed increase over the past few months can largely be put down to the expansion of the Eurosystem’s purchase programmes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann has certified the EU's ability to act in the face of the Corona crisis. "Solidarity in Europe - including financial solidarity - is, I think, the right approach in this situation. Politics must determine the nature and scope of this solidarity", he said in an interview with the Funke media group on the recently adopted EU reconstruction package. Nevertheless, this must remain an exceptional measure, he said.

In the first half of 2020, the Bundesbank recorded approximately 34,000 counterfeit euro banknotes with a nominal value of €1.6 million. Although this means that the number of counterfeits rose significantly on the year, their volume remained low overall.

The second quarter of 2020 saw 56.25% of the German banks taking part in the Bank Lending Survey (BLS) report brisker demand for loans to enterprises. Never since the BLS was launched in 2003 have so many respondents reported an increase in demand for loans of this type.