The Impact of Changes in Commodity Prices on the Current Account Balance

The German current account balance has risen to over 8% compared to nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in recent years. This takes it above the 6% threshold stipulated by the European Commission in its supervision of macroeconomic inequalities. This strong upturn is due to the decrease in prices for imported oil and gas. This price effect alone led to an increase of 1.4 percentage points in Germany’s nominal GDP between 2013 and 2016.