Bundesbank Executive Board member Burkhard Balz has spoken out in favour of a future that includes cash: Let us work together to ensure that cash keeps its time-tested place in an increasingly digitalised world, he said in his speech at the Bundesbank’s cash symposium in Berlin. In order to guarantee freedom of choice in payments, access to and acceptance of cash must be maintained, said Mr Balz.

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.

The finance ministers of the federal states met in Frankfurt am Main for a change. And for a very particular reason: this marked the 1,000th meeting of the Bundesrat’s Finance Committee. The venue was the same building where, on 25 and 26 September 1946, the “German Financial Council” convened for the first time: under the roof of what was to become the Bank deutscher Länder, the Bundesbank’s predecessor institution. 

The German economy remained listless at the end of 2024. According to the Bundesbank’s latest Monthly Report, industry has been particularly weak. It is also unlikely that the German economy will manage to escape the period of stagnation in the first quarter of 2025. The inflation rate is still elevated but is likely to decline soon.

Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel officially inaugurated Ulf Slopek as President of the Regional Office in Hesse in a ceremony attended by over 150 invited guests – and said a formal farewell to Mr Slopek’s predecessor Thomas Ollinger, who now heads the Bundesbank’s Directorate General Procurement.

The tendency of monetary policy to influence investors’ risk appetite has a significant impact on the effectiveness of the Eurosystem’s monetary policy on the macroeconomy and financial markets, according to an article in the latest Monthly Report. In it, the authors examine the impact of monetary policy measures on the risk appetite of euro area investors. Their analysis is based on a new broad-based indicator of risk appetite in the euro area.

The Deutsche Bundesbank mourns the passing of its former president, Helmut Schlesinger. He was Vice-President of Germany’s central bank from January 1980 to the end of July 1991 and then President until the end of September 1993. Mr Schlesinger passed away on 23 December 2024 at the age of 100. 

The German economy is not only struggling with persistent economic headwinds, but also with structural problems, said Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel, presenting the Bundesbank’s new Forecast for Germany. The Bundesbank projects a slight decline of 0.2 % in real gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024 and only a slight rise in 2025. The labour market, too, is now responding noticeably to the protracted weakness of the economy. The inflation rate remains elevated in 2025, but is likely to return to 2 % in the years that follow.

The Governing Council today decided to lower the three key ECB interest rates by 25 basis points. In particular, the decision to lower the deposit facility rate – the rate through which the Governing Council steers the monetary policy stance – is based on its updated assessment of the inflation outlook, the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission.

At a speech in Luxembourg, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel touched on topics including the upcoming interest rate decision by the Governing Council of the ECB and the German economy, amongst other things. The German economy was also the topic of his recent interview with the Financial Times.