Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Global Current Account Balances

The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has severely affected the global economy and international trade. Economic activity slumped sharply in the first half of 2020 and recovered strongly in the second half of the year. A similar pattern can be seen in the cross-border movement of goods. The following article gives a brief overview of the development of current account balances in Germany and the rest of the world over the past year. Current account balances include all a nation’s transactions abroad that are not related to cross-border capital movements.