Tobi Ijalana
Germany has outrun Japan as the country with world’s largest current account surplus in 2018.
Euronews.com states that Germany’s current account surplus falls but it is still the world’s largest last year due to strong exports.
The International Monetary Fund and the European Commission had urged Germany for years to do more to lift domestic demand as a way to boost imports, stimulate growth and reduce global economic imbalances.
U.S. President Donald Trump has also criticised Germany’s export strength.
Germany’s current account surplus, which measures the flow of goods, services and investments, was the world’s largest for the third year running in 2018 at $294 billion, followed by Japan with $173 billion, the IFO figures showed.
Russia came third with a surplus of $116 billion.
When measured in relation to economic output, Germany’s current account surplus shrank for the third year in a row, however, falling to 7.4 per cent in 2018 from 7.9 percent the previous year, according to the IFO figures, Euronews.com stated.
