In the current issue of its Monthly Report, the Bundesbank uses scenario calculations to analyse the potential macroeconomic impact of a further escalation of the war against Ukraine. According to the experts, German real GDP this year could be down by as much as 2% compared with 2021. The inflation rate in Germany in 2022 could be 1½ percentage points higher than expected in the European Central Bank’s March projection.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €15.4 billion in October 2021, down €4.6 billion on the previous month’s level.

The financial assets of households in Germany stood at €5,875 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2018. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2017, this represents just a moderate increase of €14 billion, or 0.2%. In the first quarter, claims on insurance corporations grew in particular (€22 billion), followed by currency and deposits, which saw inflows totalling just under €15 billion.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann has rebuffed demands by the International Monetary Fund for Germany to use fiscal policy space for growth-stimulating measures. A more accommodative German fiscal policy would not relieve the perceived drag on the global economy, he said at a press conference following the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings.

The German economy grew strongly in the past year. Driven by strong consumption growth, real gross domestic product (GDP), according to initial calculations by the Federal Statistical Office, was up by 1.7% from 2014.