According to the current issue of the Bundesbank’s Monthly Report, German economic output fell surprisingly significantly in the fourth quarter of 2024. The main reasons for this were declining exports and weak industrial output, especially in the automotive sector, while private and government consumption expenditure rose. The labour market outlook also suggests a continued cooldown. 

Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel and First Deputy Governor Sabine Mauderer, responsible for Controlling, Accounting and Organisation, will present the Annual Report 2024 on Tuesday, 25 February 2025, at 11:00. The press conference will be streamed live on the internet.

The Bundesbank registered roughly 72,400 counterfeit euro banknotes in German payments in 2024. Thus, the number of counterfeits was up by 28 % compared with the previous year. At the same time, however, the loss arising from counterfeiting went down. Overall, the incidence of counterfeit money remains moderate in scale: statistically speaking, in 2024 there were nine counterfeit banknotes per 10,000 inhabitants, said Burkhard Balz, member of the Bundesbank’s Executive Board.

The Governing Council of the ECB has shortlisted the motifs for the two possible themes for future euro banknotes: “European culture: shared cultural spaces” and “Rivers and birds: resilience in diversity”. The selected motifs include Ludwig van Beethoven, Marie Curie and Leonardo da Vinci. “Rivers and birds” included a kingfisher in a waterfall, a white stork flying over a river valley and a wallcreeper next to a mountain landscape. The ECB is expected to make the final decision on the designs of the new banknotes in 2026.