At the end of December 2020, Germany’s net external assets stood at €2,077 billion, thus amounting to almost 62% of nominal gross domestic product (GDP). Both German claims and liabilities vis-à-vis non-residents continued to rise considerably in 2020.

How is Germany’s international price competitiveness faring in light of high energy costs? The Bundesbank’s experts explore this question in the latest edition of the Monthly Report. To this end, they examined the impact of the higher energy costs, on the one hand, and the euro's depreciation against the US dollar, on the other. Their result was that, at least from a macroeconomic perspective, the depreciation of the currency is probably still offsetting high energy prices.

At the end of the fourth quarter of 2018, the financial assets of households in Germany stood at €6,016 billion. Compared with the third quarter of 2018, this represents a decrease of just over €28 billion.