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The Bundesbank believes that the German economy grew at a fairly strong pace during the summer months, its economists singling out the robust consumption as the main source of growth. Rising employment and the increase in household spending on the back of perceptibly higher earnings and contracting energy prices were propelling domestic economic activity, the Bank's economists wrote in the September edition of the Monthly Report, adding that these factors were also stimulating growth in the services sector.

German industrial output had once again failed to get off the ground at the beginning of the third quarter despite the vibrant growth in exports. The Bundesbank based this assessment on fresh data released by the Federal Statistical Office, which showed that output in July was ¼% down on the second-quarter average. Industrial turnover, meanwhile, climbed by a sharp 2½% in the same month, largely as a result of strong foreign trade figures while domestic sales continued their lacklustre streak. All in all, the Bundesbank's experts believe that the pick-up in industrial activity – the basis for which had been laid by the preceding rise in new orders – is still taking some time to materialise.

Other topics covered by the September Monthly Report include the profitability of German credit institutions in 2014 and recent developments in lending to euro-area non-financial corporations (ie enterprises outside the banking sector).