According to the Bundesbank’s latest projection, the economic boom in Germany will continue until 2020, although growth will not be quite as strong as it had been previously. For 2018, the Bundesbank expects calendar-adjusted growth of 2.0%, which will fall only slightly to 1.9% in the coming year. The economy is likely to grow by 1.6% in 2020.

At its meeting in Riga, Latvia, on 14 June 2018, the Governing Council of the ECB decided to end its asset purchases, most likely at the end of 2018. Subject to incoming data confirming the Governing Council’s medium-term inflation outlook, purchases are set to initially be halved to €15 billion per month as from October 2018 and then be discontinued entirely at the end of the year.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann says that Germany and France must work in concert when it comes to reforming the EU. Speaking in Brussels, Mr Weidmann welcomed the reform proposals put forward by French President Emmanuel Macron, saying that they have provided significant impetus.

The Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) published the mandates of its three workstreams on 29 May. More central banks and international organisations have also joined the network.

The German economy did not grow as quickly in the first quarter of 2018 as it did in the last three months of 2017. While the Bundesbank expects the underlying economic boom to continue in spite of the dip in growth, its economists concede in the May Monthly Report that "the underlying cyclical trend may well have decelerated unexpectedly quickly to a pace of growth that is now only slightly above potential growth."

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann has come out in favour of swiftly ending net asset purchases in the euro area. In a speech held at the Centre for European Economic Research, Mr Weidmann focused, in particular, on the importance of communication in the context of monetary policy decisions. He also said that the latest economic downturn was no reason to delay the necessary normalisation process.

After reaching record highs during the financial crisis, Germany's government debt has declined significantly over the past few years. The Bundesbank is expecting Germany to return to compliance with the debt limit of 60% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2019 at the latest. To better meet the increased statistical requirements in Europe, the Bundesbank makes the case for a more harmonised and integrated accounting system for general government in the current issue of its Monthly Report.

According to the current issue of its Monthly Report, the Bundesbank is expecting sharp wage increases in future, as indicated by the following signs: the lowest level of unemployment since German reunification, continuing buoyant economic conditions and high demand for labour. In recent years, workers from other EU countries have helped to meet the high demand for labour in Germany. According to the Bundesbank’s experts, such dampening effects on wage growth are set to subside.

The Bundesbank expects the German economy’s boom to continue, although the growth rate of gross domestic product might be distinctly lower in the first quarter of 2018 than in the preceding quarters. This is, the Bank’s economists believe, chiefly attributable to a steep decline in industrial output in February.