Rehn: Germany must act to aid recovery

German money fuelled the credit and housing bubbles of the eurozone’s periphery states and now must act to aid recovery, Ollie Rehn, economics commissioner warned.

Mr Rehn is expected to officially warn Berlin to make changes when he delivers his recommendations on the draft budgets from all eurozone countries not in a programme on Thursday.

He notes that a third of Germany’s current account surplus comes from returns on loans and investments outside the country while the rest comes mainly from exports of goods that are currently in demand.