The Bundesbank has significantly raised its forecast for German economic growth for this year and the next. Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann expects the trajectory of growth to be sustained in equal measure by domestic and foreign demand. However, he sees risks of a setback to economic recovery in the euro area.

A new weekly activity index (WAI) published by the Bundesbank is designed to measure real economic activity in Germany in a timely manner. Measured by the WAI, economic activity between 16 March and 14 June 2020 was 7.4% below the activity recorded between 16 December 2019 and 15 March 2020.

A new weekly activity index (WAI) for the German economy has been developed at the Bundesbank to assess the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the economy from a near-time perspective. The Bundesbank is using this new indicator as an input in its short-term economic analysis.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €28.2 billion in December 2020, up €6.9 billion from the previous month’s level. Although the goods account surplus decreased, the surplus in invisible current transactions – comprising the services account as well as primary and secondary income – increased to a much greater degree.

At the end of the fourth quarter of 2016, households' financial assets amounted to €5,586 billion; this figure was up markedly by €98 billion (or 1.8%) from the third quarter of 2016. The increase owed partly to substantial valuation gains of just over €53 billion on financial assets, in particular on equities and investment fund shares.