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BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany’s current account surplus remained the world’s largest last year despite trade tensions, the Ifo economic institute said on Monday, in an estimate likely to renew criticism of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s fiscal policies. The Ifo calculations, reported exclusively by Reuters ahead of publication by the economic institute, put Germany’s current account surplus — which measures the flow of goods, services and investments — at some $293 billion in 2019. It is the fourth successive year that Germany’s current account surplus has been the world’s largest, with Japan’s the next biggest at $194 billion, according to Ifo calculations....

The health of Europe's largest economy is in trouble as Germany teeters on the edge of a recession. A decline in exports dampened the German economy, which shrunk by 0.1 percent in the second quarter of 2019. Concerns over a recession have the German government reportedly under pressure to ditch its self-imposed balance budget, or Black Zero rule, and finance more fiscal stimulus with new debt. The country’s 10-year Bund yield, which hit an all-time record low earlier in the day, responded to the stimulus, bouncing up slightly. “In Europe, its crisis mode,” Brenner said. “And even you had one...

The 19-country eurozone lost some economic momentum in August, largely because of a slowdown in Germany, a closely watched survey showed Monday, days ahead of another possible stimulus package from the European Central Bank. Financial information company IHS Markit said its purchasing managers’ index — a broad gauge of economic activity — for the eurozone fell to a 19-month low of 52.9 points in August from 53.2 the previous month. The fall was unexpected as the initial estimate for August was 53.3. In spite of the fall, the eurozone is still growing, albeit sluggishly as anything above 50 indicates expansion....

German imports and exports unexpectedly shrunk in July, with a sharp export contraction causing a surprise narrowing in Germany's trade balance. Federal Statistical Office data showed seasonally adjusted exports fell by 2.6% - analysts had expected about 0.3% growth - whereas imports fell by 0.7%, as against expectations for a 0.8% rise. On the year exports slumped by 10% and imports shriveled by 6.5%. The foreign trade balance shrunk to €19.4 billion ($21.9 billion) from €21.4 billion in June, as against expectations for a balance of €22 billion. The Federal Statistical Office said the pace of German exports to other...

As Draghi said in a speech to Asian government officials and business leaders on Monday, there’s still a great deal more that can be done to punish Europe’s hordes of savers, the central banker’s scapegoat du jour for all that ails Europe’s debt-laden economy. The low or negative interest rates plaguing Europe are a symptom of a much bigger problem, he said: the compression of investment returns due to a massive global savings glut. To our great amazement, it’s this purported glut — and not his monetary policies — that lies behind the historic decline in interest rates. Inevitably, whenever...

When the German football team lost 1-0 to the Republic of Ireland on Thursday night in a European championship qualifying match, it capped a grim week for national pride. The shock defeat on the football field followed the ritual grilling of Michael Horn, the US boss of disgraced car-maker Volkswagen, by the US Congress; record losses at the country’s biggest bank, Deutsche Bank; and a clutch of dire economic figures, including the sharpest drop in exports since 2009. Suddenly, the health of Germany’s economy, powerhouse of the 19-member eurozone, is under question, just as the slowdown in emerging markets, including...

Confidence in Germany is crumbling. The ZEW investor confidence survey index plunged to 44.3 in August from 61.8 a month ago. This was much worse than the 54.0 expected by economists. To make things worse, the expectations index crashed to 8.6 from 27.1. This was the lowest reading since December 2012. Economists were expecting 17.0. "In one line: Grim, as slump in investor sentiment deepens," said Pantheon Economics' Claus Vistesen. "Given the recent sharp drawdown in equities, a drop in sentiment was expected, but the decline was larger than anticipated, reinforcing downside risk to the economy." Some of this deterioration...

Germany has hit back at US criticism of its export-led growth model, describing the attack as "incomprehensible". The rebuff came after a US Treasury report said Germany's dependence on exports for growth was hurting the eurozone and the wider global economy. It also said that domestic demand growth in Germany had been "anaemic". But Germany's finance ministry said there were "no imbalances" in its economy and that its current account surplus was not a cause for concern. A surplus happens when a country's income from exports is greater than its import bill. In its report, the US Treasury said that...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative allies triumphed in Bavaria's state election Sunday, a week before the whole country votes, though a painful setback for her coalition partners added to uncertainty over the outcome of the national election. The Merkel-allied Christian Social Union, traditionally the dominant force in the prosperous southern region, won 47.7 percent of the vote, official results showed. It won back a majority in the state legislature it humiliatingly lost in 2008, gaining more than four percentage points. “This election gives us tailwind for the national election,” said Hermann Groehe, the general secretary of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union....

A court in central Germany has ordered four children to be taken into care because their parents refused to stop home-schooling them. The parents are deeply religious and have even refused to send the children to a Christian private school, saying they wanted to keep them away from "undesirable influences". The children, aged 8 to 14, were taken from their home in Darmstadt in a police raid last Thursday. Home-schooling is banned in Germany. Officials said the parents had kept their children away from the outside world. The children were taken into care as a last resort, in order to...

Germany's economy collapsed by 0.6pc in the final three months of last year as the eurozone recession finally caught up with the currency bloc’s most powerful member. A sharp fall in exports from the region’s trading hub caused the larger-than-expected decline, as official figures showed that the eurozone as a whole slumped 0.6pc in the quarter, the worst performance in over three years. The currency area has contracted for three quarters running and by 0.5pc for the year as a whole. It is 1pc smaller than in September 2011. Economists had expected Germany to be hit by the bloc’s waning...