What are the requirements that a digital euro needs to meet? This is a question explored in the latest edition of the Bundesbank’s Monthly Report. After outlining the opportunities and risks presented by digital money, the Bank’s experts conclude that any solutions will need to be well-designed, secure and convenient.

Economic output in Germany declined in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest edition of the Bundesbank’s Monthly Report. Many services sectors suffered larger losses than in the previous quarter due to containment measures being tightened and prolonged. In addition, the upturn in industrial output was not sustained in the first two months.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann says financing conditions play a crucial role on the road to price stability, but there’s more to it than just glancing at the indicators. If those indicators flag changes, he states, the job of central banks is to analyse exactly how those changes came about. “I believe that financing terms should be able to evolve in line with the economic recovery in the euro area. It’s not a matter of using monetary policy to cement a particular interest rate level,” Mr Weidmann said in a speech delivered virtually in Frankfurt.

In the year that the coronavirus pandemic began, general government debt in Germany was up by €275 billion to €2.332 trillion. The debt ratio, meaning the ratio of debt to gross domestic product, rose from 59.7% to 70.0% in 2020, which is the sharpest increase in the debt ratio within the space of a year since German reunification.