Germany’s current account surplus in 2019 remains the largest in the world, despite trade tensions. This is expected to be announced by the Ifo Institute on Monday, an assessment that is likely to renew criticism of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s fiscal policies.

Ifo’s calculations set a surplus of 293 billion USD last year. This is the fourth consecutive year in which the German surplus is the largest in the world. According to the calculations of the institute, Japan ranks second with nearly 100 billion USD, which is about 194 billion USD.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Commission have repeatedly called on Berlin to do more to stimulate domestic demand and imports, as a measure against global economic imbalances and weak growth abroad. US President Donald Trump has also repeatedly criticized German export power.

The amount of German surplus is mainly due to the fact that many more products and services from the country are sold abroad than imported.

According to Ifo economist Christian Grimme, Germany’s surplus surged last year by almost 16 billion EUR to 7.6% of gross domestic product.

“Stable exports to the US due to stronger depreciation of the euro and increased exports to the UK, where demand is recovering to some extent, dramatically increased German exports again in the second half of the year”, said Christian Grimme. “In contrast, imports grew very slightly during the summer half of 2019 – the continuing industrial recession in Germany has drastically reduced imports of intermediate goods”, added he.

The European Commission accepts a surplus of 6% of the economy as sustainable in the long run.