Key Facts

GDP (ppp) per CAPITA

$35,400 (2008 est.)

Inflation Rate

2.7% (2008 est.)

Population

82,329,758 (July 2009 est.)

Country Risk Ratings

A2

Ease of Doing Business

25/181

Global Competitiveness

7/134

Country Map

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gE Network

There are 119 members in the
gE Network for this country.

Germany : Introduction

As Europe's largest economy and second most populous nation (after Russia), Germany is a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations. European power struggles immersed Germany in two devastating World Wars in the first half of the 20th century and left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945. With the advent of the Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR). The democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security organizations, the EC, which became the EU, and NATO, while the Communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and the end of the Cold War allowed for German unification in 1990. Since then, Germany has expended considerable funds to bring Eastern productivity and wages up to Western standards. In January 1999, Germany and 10 other EU countries introduced a common European exchange currency, the euro.

Germany: Deutsche Bundesbank

Maintaining the stability of the Euro as its primary objective, the Deustche Bundesbank is the principal bank of the Federal Republic of Germany. It acts as the guardian of the monetary reserves and the issuer of seven different banknotes. Also, it is a primary component of the European Systems of Central Banks. Available in English and German.

Sources:
CIA World Factbook (September 2009)
U.S. Dept. of State Country Background Notes (June 2009)