BLBG:Germany Importing More From Euro-Area Partners, Bundesbank Says
Germany is importing more from its euro-area partners, almost halving its current-account surplus with them since 2007, the Bundesbank said.
The surplus fell to 57 billion euros ($75 billion) last year from 108 billion four years earlier, the Frankfurt-based Bundesbank said in its monthly report today. Germany’s overall current account, a measure of all trade including services, declined to 147.7 billion euros in 2011 from 150.7 billion euros in 2010, due primarily to rising import prices, it said.
Germany, the world’s biggest exporter after China, has been accused by the U.S. and other Group of 20 nations of fueling global imbalances by focusing on exports and not stimulating consumer spending enough. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected a U.S proposal to limit current-account surpluses or deficits to 4 percent of gross domestic product.
Germany’s current-account surplus amounted for 5.75 percent of GDP last year, down from 6 percent in 2010, the Bundesbank said today. German imports grew 13.2 percent in 2011, outpacing the 11.4 percent increase in exports. Imports from other euro- area nations rose 13.4 percent last year while exports to the region gained 8.4 percent.
“The strong increase in import prices and the sustained moderation in increases in export prices led to a considerable outflow of income abroad,” the Bundesbank said. “In addition, trade in goods couldn’t maintain the pace of expansion that it had in 2010.”
The central bank, which forecasts 0.6 percent economic growth for 2012 after 3 percent last year, said German companies are optimistic about the outlook even as the economy struggles to avoid a recession amid the sovereign debt crisis.
Europe’s largest economy contracted 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 and may have been hampered further by unusually cold weather in February.
“The German economy may still be moving sideways, continuing the path it started toward the end of last year,” the Bundesbank said. “However the confidence indicators signal a rejuvenation of the economy in the early part of 2012.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Black in Frankfurt at jblack25@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net
