The foreign direct investment stocks reached a new peak at year-end 2017. In 2017, Germany’s primary outward foreign direct investment (FDI) grew considerably by €61 billion and reached a new peak of €1,167 billion at the end of that year. In the opposite direction, inward FDI in Germany rose by €32 billion, likewise achieving its highest ever recorded value (€741 billion).

Germany’s net external position stood at €1,771 billion at the end of 2017, thus amounting to around 54% of nominal gross domestic product.

Germany’s outward foreign direct investment (FDI) stocks grew at a significantly slower rate in 2016 than they did one year earlier on account of smaller positive exchange rate effects as well as a lower volume of new equity investments. Inward FDI in Germany expanded at just a subdued pace, much as it had done in the previous years.

Germany’s net international investment position stood at €1,709 billion at the end of 2016, thus amounting to around 54% of nominal gross domestic product. Year-on-year, the German net external asset position thereby increased by €231 billion.

Germany’s primary direct investment stocks abroad (outward FDI) continued to rise in 2015. By contrast, the foreign direct investment stocks in Germany (inward FDI) fell slightly.

Germany's net external position stood at €1,476 billion at the end of 2015, and thus amounted to around 49 % of gross domestic product. The German net external asset position rose by €302 billion year-on-year.

In 2014, Germany's primary foreign direct investment stocks (outward FDI) and foreign direct investment stocks in Germany (inward FDI) rose only moderately on balance.

As at the end of September 2015, households' financial assets amounted to €5,210 billion; this figure was €17 billion (or 0.3%) lower than at the end of the second quarter.

Germany's net external position stood at €1,228 billion at the end of 2014, and thus amounted to around 42% of gross domestic product. The German net external asset position rose by €248 billion year-on-year. This increase primarily reflects Germany's current account surplus last year. Unlike in the previous year, the increase occurred against the backdrop of rising gross stocks, as it had done in the years before that.

Renminbi trade in Germany has experienced strong growth: German-issued securities denominated in renminbi (RMB) have more than quadrupled since last spring. The issuance of numerous "Goethe bonds" and other debt securities caused the volume to rise from just under RMB 5 billion to over RMB 21 billion.