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"Moreover, our current account surplus, which is really the
source of the international debate, has to do with an exchange
rate which is too low for the competitiveness of the German
economy," Wolfgang Schaeuble said at a Europe conference.
"For the overall competitiveness of the euro zone, it may be all
right," Schaeuble said, adding that the euro exchange rate was
also on the rise.
"With an exchange rate, as we had before the ultra-loose
monetary policy, the German balance sheet would be only half as
high," Schaeuble added.
He added that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was right to
say that Germany must invest more. But the problem was not a
lack of public funds in Germany to finance investment but rather
bottlenecks in planning capacity for example in construction,
Schaeuble said.
(Reporting by Michael Nienaber, editing by Thomas Escritt)
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