German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has floated the idea of using some of the country's gold reserves to finance research and development.
In an interview in the Die Zeit weekly, Schröder said that selling some of the central bank's gold reserves would allow “research and development to be partially taken out of the [government's] savings program.”
The chancellor said that one of the biggest challenges facing the government was finding enough money to fund research and development at a time of drastic cuts in health and the welfare services. His comments come after the European Union urged Germany to make more efforts to bring its budget deficit below the Eurozone's 3% limit.
Schröder said that funds released by the sale of gold reserves should be used to set up a special foundation to finance research and development as well as education.
“A knowledge-based society cannot afford not to use all its ...
