Germany

Britain should respect post-Brexit trade rules or else face consequences, a German official said on Thursday as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was "crazy" to have checks on goods heading from Britain only to Northern Ireland, Reuters reported. Tensions over the Northern Ireland protocol, signed as part of Britain's exit from the European Union, flared again after Belfast ordered an immediate halt on Wednesday on checks on agri-foods, earning a rebuke from Brussels.

German annual inflation slowed in January but was still higher than expected by analysts and well above the European Central Bank's price stability target of 2% for the euro zone as a whole, preliminary data showed on Monday, Reuters reported. Consumer prices, harmonised to make them comparable with inflation data from other European Union countries (HICP), rose 5.1% year on year compared with 5.7% in December, the Federal Statistics Office said. The national consumer price index (CPI) rose by 4.9% on an annual basis, easing from 5.3% in December.

France assumed Germany’s traditional role as the driving economic force in Europe after a strong finish to last year, while the German economy contracted in the final three months as it grappled with a resurgence of the coronavirus, official data showed Friday, the New York Times reported. Economists expect growth across Europe to return to pre-pandemic levels in the first part of this year but with the pace varying by country.

Two former Deutsche Bank AG traders were cleared by an appeals court in the latest blow to the troubled transatlantic crackdown on manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, Bloomberg News reported. Matthew Connolly and Gavin Black were found guilty of wire fraud in 2018 for rigging Deutsche Bank’s Libor submission. But the U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Thursday threw out their convictions, saying prosecutors failed to prove the two men influenced the bank into making false or misleading submissions. Prosecutors in the U.S. and the U.K.

The German government expects consumer price inflation to rise further this year, contrary to earlier projections, which will likely lead to higher wage demands by labour unions, the economy ministry said in its annual economic report yesterday, Reuters reported. The government predicts a national inflation rate (CPI) of 3.3% for 2022 after 3.1% in 2021 as higher energy costs and a scarcity of semiconductors and other intermediate products continue to push up overall prices, the ministry said.

Germany on Monday extended its current pandemic measures as the experts panel appointed by the government has warned the fast spreading Omicron coronavirus variant could bring critical infrastructure in Europe's biggest economy to a breaking point, Reuters reported. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that he had agreed with the heads of the federal states to extend restrictions such as limiting private gatherings to 10 ten people and requiring proof of booster vaccination or a negative test at restaurants. "Now it's time to stay on course," said Scholz after a meeting on Monday.

Germany's flagship carrier Lufthansa is in talks to buy a 40% stake in state-owned Alitalia's successor ITA Airways, two people familiar with the negotiations said on Sunday, following a newspaper report that a deal could be unveiled next week, Reuters reported. The talks about a tie-up between Germany's partly state-owned Lufthansa and ITA Airways are still ongoing with all outcomes possible, one of the sources said on condition of anonymity, adding the stake price was still under negotiation.

Benchmark German bond yields fell for the first time in five sessions on Thursday as money markets slightly pulled back their bets on rate hikes this year, Reuters reported. Germany's 10-year yield, the benchmark for the euro area, had risen above 0% for the first time in nearly three years on Wednesday but was trading back in negative territory on Thursday. Money markets pared back bets on rate hikes from the European Central Bank this year slightly, pricing in a 80% chance of 10-basis point rate hike by September, down from a 100% chance on Wednesday.

Investors who lost money from investing in Wirecard AG shares can’t make Germany’s financial regulator Bafin compensate them, a Frankfurt court ruled, Bloomberg News reported. The tribunal on Wednesday threw out four suits by shareholders who claimed they lost between 3,000 euros ($3,404) and 60,000 euros after the former payment company went bust in Germany’s biggest accounting scandal. Bafin isn’t liable to individuals even if the regulator made blunders, so they cannot sue, the court said in a statement.

Germany is telling its banks to rebuild capital buffers that they were allowed to deplete at the onset of the pandemic, joining other European countries in tightening regulations again as lenders take more risk, Bloomberg News reported. The country’s banks have to set aside 22 billion euros ($25 billion) of capital buffers by February next year, the country’s financial authorities said on Wednesday. The vast majority have enough capital on hand to meet the regulatory demands without raising fresh funds, BaFin President Mark Branson told reporters.