Brisk industrial activity kept Germany’s economy on a strongly expansionary path in the third quarter of 2017, and growth looks set to remain buoyant in the fourth quarter. The Bundesbank’s experts, writing in the latest Monthly Report, put this assessment down to the record-high sentiment in trade and industry, the excellent order situation in industry, and what remains a high level of consumer confidence.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann has warned of the flipside of protectionism. "Trade-restrictive measures often provoke backlashes, and these harbour the risk of erupting into trade wars in which there can only be losers," he said in a speech in Hamburg.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €16.9 billion in November 2022, up €11.2 billion on the previous month’s level. This was caused by the larger surplus in the goods account and the shift to a surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income.

At the end of the second quarter of 2019, the financial assets of households in Germany stood at €6,237 billion. Compared with the previous quarter, this represents an increase of €95 billion, or 1.5%. The purely transaction-related increase in financial assets amounted to €65 billion.

At the end of the first quarter of 2019, the financial assets of households in Germany stood at €6,170 billion.