Country experience: Germany (Chapter 20)

Country experience: Germany

20.69.    In 2011, Deutsche Bundesbank and the Statistical Federal Office of Germany decided to present merchandise trade data along with trade in services data in a collaborative publication for interested users on a yearly basis. It was published for the first time in 2012 on the websites of both institutions and is available only in an electronic version.

20.70.    The publication contains annual data from 2009 on of merchandise trade from foreign trade statistics (FTS) broken down into main industrial groupings, selected economic activities and country groups. Due to the methodological differences between FTS (movement across the border) and BOP concepts (change of ownership), the publication also provides some basic information about the total corrections made to reconcile merchandise trade with the goods account on a BOP basis.^[1]

20.71.    Trade in services is broken down by such major services items as travel, transport, construction or financial services and by country groups already used for merchandise trade. To highlight the relevance of the aggregates for the economy, the publication further contains a table showing the relationship of exports and imports of merchandise and services to gross domestic product (GDP). 

20.72.    The publication provides users, for the first time, with a complete picture of German trade with the rest of the world in a coherent way. However, the current version is quite condensed and so Deutsche Bundesbank must wait for users' feedback. As mentioned before, the publication will be updated on regular basis at the end of year following the reporting period (t-1).^[2]

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