The Bundesbank has reacted sceptically to proposals from Germany's incoming government to use part of the proceeds of the sale of gold reserves to support funding of research and development.

Designated finance minister Peer Steinbrueck said he would be talking to the Bundesbank about a sale of the bank's gold reserves to finance future investment projects. But the Bundesbank president Axel Weber said yesterday that the central bank was not informed of the budget plans of the new government and had no part in shaping them.

"I welcome the fact that the designated finance minister wants to establish contact to receive an explanation of the basic principles and the conditions of the bank's investment decisions," he said in a statement.

"I expect that it will be possible to reach an agreement to honour the respective areas of responsibility."

Profits from the Bundesbank are paid over to the federal government but the bank itself has responsibility for administering its assets.

Mr Steinbrueck confirmed earlier reports that the incoming government wants to sell part of the Bundesbank's roughly 3,433 tonnes of gold reserves and invest the proceeds in interest-bearing assets controlled by the bank.

The interest would then be used to pay for research and development projects and would not flow into the federal budget.

The Bundesbank has signalled in the past it would not accept such transfers to the budget. The idea of creating a fund to invest the proceeds of gold sales was originally launched by former Bundesbank president Ernst Welteke but Mr Weber distanced himself from the proposal when he took office in 2004. -