The Deutsche Bundesbank calculates the basic rate of interest in pursuant to statutory requirements and publishes its current level in the Federal Gazette. 

In April 2021, Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €21.3 billion, down €8.7 billion on the previous month’s level. This was driven by the decrease in the goods account surplus and a narrowed surplus on invisible current transactions, comprising primary and secondary income as well as services. 

The Deutsche Bundesbank sees the German economy poised for the start of a strong upswing. It currently projects economic growth to reach 3.7% this year and 5.2% next year. In 2023, growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) is set to lose momentum, but will still amount to 1.7%.

The German current account recorded a surplus of €30.2 billion in March 2021, up €11.5 billion on the previous month’s level. This was due to a considerable increase in the surplus on invisible current transactions, which comprise not only services but also primary and secondary income, as well as that in the goods account.

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.

The German banks responding to the Bank Lending Survey (BLS) once again tightened their credit standards for loans to enterprises somewhat in the first quarter of 2021. Standards remained unchanged for loans to households for house purchase, and they were eased marginally for consumer credit and other lending to households.

The financial assets of households in Germany came to €6,950 billion at the end of 2020, increasing by €211 billion, or 3.1%, compared with the third quarter. With inflows of €74 billion in the fourth quarter, households again mainly built up cash and deposits, followed by claims on insurance corporations (€21 billion) and investment fund shares (€14 billion).

The German current account recorded a surplus of €18.8 billion in February 2021, up €1.1 billion from the previous month’s level. While the surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income, saw a decline, the surplus in the goods account rose more strongly.

In the year the coronavirus pandemic began, general government debt in Germany as defined in the Maastricht Treaty was up by €275 billion to €2.332 trillion. By contrast, debt had been repaid in preceding years on the whole.