Sometimes we have an opportunity like the image of Janus with two heads to look at an event from two different perspectives. This morning’s trade data for Germany is an example of that. If we look at the overall theme of the Euro era then the way that Germany engineered a competitive devaluation by joining with weaker economies in a single currency has been a major factor in this.
According to provisional results of the Deutsche Bundesbank, the current account of the balance of payments showed a surplus of 16.3 billion euros in February 2019, which takes into account the balances of trade in goods including supplementary trade items (+19.1 billion euros), services (-1.1 billion euros), primary income (+6.2 billion euros) and secondary income (-7.9 billion euros). In February 2018, the German current account showed a surplus of 19.5 billion euros.
The large surplus which as you can see derives from its trade in goods feels like a permanent feature of economic life as it has been with us for so long. Also it is the bulk of the trade surplus of the Euro area which supports the value of the Euro although if we shift wider the Germany trade surplus is one of the imbalances which led to the credit crunch itself. So let us move on as we note an example of a currency devaluation/depreciation that has been quite a success for Germany.
What about now?
The theme of the last six months or so has shone a different perspective on this as the trade wars and economic slow down of late 2018 and so far this year has led to this.
Germany exported goods to the value of 108.8 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 90.9 billion euros in February 2019……After calendar and seasonal adjustment, exports were down 1.3% and imports 1.6% compared with January 2019.
We can add to that by looking at January and February together and if we do so on a quarterly basis then trade has reduced the German economy by a bit over a billion Euros. Compared to last year the net effect is a bit under four billion Euros.
One factor in this that is not getting much of an airing is the impact of the economic crisis in Turkey. If look at in from a Turkish perspective some 9% of imports come from Germany ( h/t Robin Brooks) and the slump will be impacting even though if we switch to a German view the relative influence is a lot lower.
Production
On Friday we were told this.
+0.7% on the previous month (price, seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-0.4% on the same month a year earlier (price and calendar adjusted)
There was an upwards revision to January and if we look back we see that the overall number peaked at 108.3 last May fell to 103.7 in November and was 105.2 in February if we use 2015 as our benchmark. So there has been a decline and we will find out more next month as March was a fair bit stronger than February last year.
Orders
These give us a potential guide to what is on its way and it does not look good.
Based on provisional data, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that price-adjusted new orders in manufacturing had decreased in February 2019 a seasonally and calendar adjusted 4.2% on the previous month……..-8.4% on the same month a year earlier (price and calendar adjusted).
If we switch to the index we see that at 110.2 last February was the peak so that is a partial explanation of why the annual fall is so large as for example March was 108.6. But it is also true that this February saw a large dip to the weakest in the series so far at 101. 2 which does not bide well.
Also you will no doubt not be surprised to read that a decline in foreign orders has led to this but you may that it is orders from within the Euro area that have fallen the most. The index here was 121.6 last February as opposed to 104.6 this.
Forecasts
On Thursday CNBC told us this.
Forecasts for German growth were revised significantly downwards in a ‘Joint Economic Forecast’ collated by several prominent German economic research institutes and published Thursday, with economists predicting a meager 0.8% this year.
This is more than one percentage point lower than a prediction for 1.9% made in a joint economic forecast in fall 2018.
Although they should be eating a slice of humble pie after that effort last autumn.
The private sector surveys conducted by Markit were a story of two halves.
Despite sustained strong growth in services business activity in March, the Composite Output Index slipped from a four-month high of 52.8 in February to 51.4, its lowest reading since June 2013. This reflected a marked fall in goods production – the steepest since July 2012.
In terms of absolute levels care is needed as this survey showed growth when the German economy contracted in the third quarter of last year. The change in March was driven by something that was eye-catching.
Manufacturing output fell markedly and at the fastest
rate since 2012, with the consumer goods sector joining
intermediate and capital goods producers in contraction.
Comment
A truism of the Euro era is that the ECB sets monetary policy for Germany rather than for the whole area. Whilst that has elements of truth to it the current debate at the ECB suggests that it is “The Precious” which takes centre stage.
A debate on whether to “tier” the negative interest rates that banks pay on the idle cash they park at the ECB is now underway, judging by recent ECB comments and the minutes from the March meeting. ( Reuters)
There is a German element here as we note a Deutsche Bank share price of 7.44 Euros which makes any potential capital raising look very expensive especially to existing shareholders.. Also those who bought the shares after the new hints of a merger with Commerzbank have joined existing shareholders in having singed fingers. Maybe this is why this has been floated earlier.
The next frontier for stimulus at the ECB should include stock purchases, BlackRock’s Rick Rieder says
Will he provide a list? I hope somebody at least pointed out that the Japanese experience of doing this has hardly been a triumph.
It all seems not a little desperate as we see that ECB policy remains very expansionary at least in terms of its Ivory Tower models. It’s ability to assist the German economy has the problem that it already holds some 511 billion of German bonds at a time when the total numbers are shrinking, so there are not so many to buy.
This from Friday suggests that should the German government so choose there is plenty of fiscal space.
According to provisional results of quarterly cash statistics, the core and extra budgets of the overall public budget – as defined in public finance statistics – recorded a financial surplus of 53.6 billion euros in 2018.
That is confirmed by so many of Germany’s bond having a negative yield illustrated by its benchmark ten-year yield being 0% as I type this.
The catch is provided by my junkie culture economics theme. Why after all the monetary stimulus does even Germany apparently need more? In addition if we have been “saved” by it why is the “speed limit” for economic growth now a mere 1.5%?
They can tell you what to do
But they’ll make a fool of you ( Talking Heads )
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