Germany’s current account surplus – 8.5pc of GDP, and the world’s largest in absolute terms at almost $350bn

Maury Obstfeld, the IMF’s chief economist, said Germany’s current account surplus – 8.5pc of GDP, and the world’s largest in absolute terms at almost $350bn (£252bn) – is 4.5 percentage points of GDP beyond what can be justified by demographic arguments.

The currency claim may raise eyebrows in Washington, where some suspect that the European Central Bank’s negative interest rates (-0.4pc) are a disguised way to hold down the euro – bad etiquette for a currency bloc running a surplus near $430bn, three times that of China



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