Initial calculations by the Federal Statistical Office indicate that price-adjusted gross domestic product in Germany rose by 2.2% last year. The strong growth on the demand side was broadly based and was supported by both external and domestic stimuli. In 2017, employment reached its highest level since German reunification.

Times of strong growth and low interest rates have seen vulnerabilities build up in the German financial system. In addition, the probability of an economic downturn has increased. “Now is the time to build up sufficient capital and strengthen the financial system’s defences,” said Bundesbank Vice-President Claudia Buch at the press conference on the publication of the new Financial Stability Review.

The German economy got off to a lively start to 2016, according to the Bundesbank's March Monthly Report. The Bank's economists believe that growth in the first quarter of 2016 should be at least as strong as in the second half of 2015.