The first concerns the outside world – the ocean in which the shoal of fish is swimming, if you will. The other is about the internal make-up – that is to say, the structure of the shoal. 2. Impact of the low-interest-rate environment  Let us start off by looking at the ocean. The German economy is in good shape.
Or, to stay with the metaphor, the economic waters are pretty calm. Enterprises in Germany have their costs under control, their debt is not particularly high, and they have an attractive range of products to offer the global markets.