The European Commission decided on Wednesday to prepare an in-depth analysis of Germany's persistently high current account surplus to find out whether it is a sign of a serious imbalance in Europe's biggest economy.
The long-running surplus has drawn criticism from the United States and European Union that Germany's economy - the EU's biggest and fourth biggest worldwide - is relying too heavily on exports and that Berlin should pay more attention to raising domestic demand to put growth on a sounder footing.
Germany has had a current account surplus in excess of 6 percent of its gross domestic product since 2007, meaning it exports far more than it imports from the rest of the world.
In September the surplus reached 19.7 billion euros - more than 8 percent of last year's economic output - and was the biggest in the world, beating even China.
The EU will recommend steps to fix the imbalance if the review, due to be finished early next year, finds the surplus is harmful. But that is not a foregone conclusion.
"A high surplus does not necessarily mean that there is an imbalance," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told a news conference. "We do need to examine this further and understand whether a high surplus in Germany is something affecting the functioning of the European economy as a whole."
The surplus highlights Germany's success in staying competitive in the world economy, so criticism is politically tricky, because EU policy-makers encourage euro zone countries to undertake painful reforms to become more competitive and run a current account surplus, rather than a deficit.
Source: Reuters
