The financial accounts data for Germany announced in this press release are published for the first time pursuant to the provisions of the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010). This methodological framework replaced the previous ESA 1995 on 1 September 2014, and since then has constituted the binding basis for all relevant statistics in the European Union.

Germany’s external assets grew again in 2018, standing at €2,073 billion at the end of the year. This represents an increase of €281 billion on the year.

“German economic output is likely to have declined considerably more sharply in the second quarter of 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic than in the first quarter,” the Bundesbank explains in the latest edition of its Monthly Report. According to the Bundesbank, it can be assumed, however, that economic activity already bottomed out in April and that the economy has been recovering since then.

The financial assets of households rose by €64 billion, or 1.3%, on the previous quarter to €4,871 billion by the end of the third quarter.

The financial assets of households increased by €23 billion, or 0.5% on the quarter, to €5,027 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2013.

Selected results of the financial accounts by sector