Germany's Gabriel says can't double investment plans

Reuters

PARIS (Reuters) - Germany cannot double its existing commitment to 10 billion euros of additional public investment as urged by a joint Franco-German paper, Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday.

"I don't think that on top of the 10 billion already announced, we could in the short term do twice as much, I really can't see that happening," Gabriel told a news conference with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

"In Germany the real problem is a lack of private investment," he added.

Earlier, a report by two leading economists commissioned by Paris and Berlin proposed that Germany should boost public investment by 24 billion euros in the next three years.

(Reporting by Ingrid Melander; editing by Mark John)