Efficient and secure payment systems are the foundation of a stable financial system. The Bundesbank secures and monitors cashless payments in Germany as a financial centre, provides settlement and clearing services and plays an active role in the further development of the single European payment system.

Germany’s current account posted a surplus of €5.0 billion in July 2022, down €9.3 billion on the previous month’s level. This was primarily caused by the shift into a deficit in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income. There was also a smaller surplus in goods trading.

Contrary to expectations, German economic activity expanded in the third quarter of 2022, the Bundesbank writes in its current Monthly Report. Despite high inflation and uncertainty about future energy supply, real gross domestic product surpassed its pre-pandemic level for the first time. However, the Bundesbank’s experts believe that downward forces are likely to clearly predominate in the coming months. They still expect the German economy to enter a recession in the final quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, though the scale of the recession is extremely uncertain. “Double-digit inflation could even persist into the new year,” the report states.

Notes on methodology and links

The German economy in the international division of labour: a look at value-added flows

During the second quarter of 2020, German households’ financial assets grew by €253 billion, or 4.0%, to €6,630 billion at the end of June.