Despite the rather sluggish global economic momentum in 2012, German investors stepped up their outward primary foreign direct investment (FDI) during this period considerably by €53 billion to just under €1.2 trillion. This occurred mainly by raising equity stakes, including the reinvestment of earnings. Europe was the main focus of Germany’s outward FDI.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of only €0.6 billion in August 2022, down €4.8 billion on the previous month’s level. This was due to a decrease in the goods account surplus. The deficit on invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income, changed only slightly.

During the second quarter of 2020, German households’ financial assets grew by €253 billion, or 4.0%, to €6,630 billion at the end of June.

The advantages or disadvantages firms experience as a result of their size, referred to in the economic literature as returns to scale, are of central importance in many economic models. Increasing returns to scale, whereby unit costs decrease as output volume increases, could explain productivity differences between Europe and the United States. We present fresh evidence on the returns to scale of European firms: most exhibit constant returns to scale, but a non-trivial share also show increasing returns to scale.