The coronavirus pandemic caused a historic decline in economic output in Germany, writes the Bundesbank in its most recent Monthly Report. Both the depth and speed of the crash were unprecedented. At present, however, the economy is on a recovery path and is expected to grow steeply in the third quarter.

The financial assets of households rose by €64 billion, or 1.3%, on the previous quarter to €4,871 billion by the end of the third quarter.

In the Bundesbank’s estimation, the German economy is likely to have stagnated in the final quarter of 2019. The two-speed development of the economy continued, according to the latest Monthly Report.

The financial assets of households increased by €23 billion, or 0.5% on the quarter, to €5,027 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2013.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €28.2 billion in December 2020, up €6.9 billion from the previous month’s level. Although the goods account surplus decreased, the surplus in invisible current transactions – comprising the services account as well as primary and secondary income – increased to a much greater degree.

Im Mai zog die Inflation erneut kräftig an, was vor allem auf – auch wegen der Auswirkungen des Krieges – stark steigende Energie- und Nahrungsmittelpreise zurückzuführen ist. Der Inflationsdruck hat jedoch an Breite und Intensität gewonnen, was sich in erheblichen Preissteigerungen bei zahlreichen Waren und Dienstleistungen zeigt. Fachleute des Eurosystems haben ihre Basisprojektionen zur Inflationsentwicklung deutlich nach oben korrigiert.

Germany’s outward immediate and indirect foreign direct investment (FDI) was up by €48 billion at the end of 2019 to €1,372 billion. The ranking of individual recipient countries remained broadly unchanged: almost 30%, or €391 billion worth, of all German FDI went to the United States, which was once again number one.

Selected results of the financial accounts by sector