2021 saw Germany’s current account surplus rise by €26½ billion to €265½ billion. The balance grew by ½ percentage point to 7½% of gross domestic product. The ratio thus more or less returned to its pre-pandemic level, after the short-lived decline in the previous year.

The European Central Bank (ECB) and the Deutsche Bundesbank lended their support to a concert promoting peace organised by the Berlin State Opera together with its orchestra and choir under the musical direction of Daniel Barenboim. The concert, attended by  Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel and the entire Executive Board, took place in Berlin on Sunday, 6 March 2022. The ECB, the Bundesbank and other Eurosystem central banks are supporting the charity campaign with their own donations.

As in 2021, the Bundesbank is unable to transfer any profit to the Federal budget this year. One key reason for this was the need to further increase the Bank’s risk provisions, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel explained. “In the years 2020 and 2021, the risks on our balance sheet increased substantially overall compared with the pre-pandemic period,” he said. Commenting on the war in Ukraine, the Bundesbank President expressed his shock. “Our thoughts are with the people in Ukraine and the suffering they are enduring under this aggression.”

The Bundesbank condemns the war of aggression against Ukraine. As a symbol of solidarity, we have raised the Ukrainian flag in front of our building in Frankfurt city centre. Our thoughts are with the children, women and men in Ukraine.

According to the current issue of the Bundesbank’s Monthly Report, consumer prices in Germany and worldwide are continuing to rise extraordinarily sharply. While Germany’s economy remains in the grip of the Omicron variant, very robust demand is likely to see GDP “rebound strongly in the second quarter, provided the pandemic subsides and the supply bottlenecks continue to ease,” write the Bank’s experts. 

House prices in German towns and cities rose by 7% in 2021, which was a somewhat brisker rate of growth than in 2020.

Members of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), including the Bundesbank, have renewed their Statements of Commitment to the FX Global Code. The Code, which aims to promote a robust, fair, liquid, open and appropriately transparent foreign exchange market, was updated and expanded in July 2021. According to an ECB press release “With these Statements of Commitment, the members of the ESCB emphasise that the principles of the Code are important in ensuring the continued integrity and effective functioning of the foreign exchange market.”

Individuals contribute significantly to carbon emissions. A recent Bundesbank discussion paper shows that providing information on combating climate change motivates individuals to reduce their carbon footprint. Presenting the information as the result of scientific research is just as effective as framing it as the behaviour of other people, the study finds. Both approaches led to the survey respondents stating that they wish to make more environmentally friendly choices.

The devastating flooding last year hit people hard. Since then, employees at the Bundesbank have been processing numerous notes and coins from flood-affected areas – most of them by hand. More than 1.5 million banknotes and 1.2 million coins have been submitted to the Bundesbank so far, explained Bundesbank Executive Board member Johannes Beermann at a press conference in Mainz. “In total, the Bundesbank has replaced cash worth more than 100 million euro.”

Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel has warned against waiting too long to begin monetary policy normalisation. In an interview with “DIE ZEIT” he pointed to significant risks, saying “if we act later we would have to raise interest rates more substantially and at a faster pace.”