Gold bullion is not considered as liquid as, for example, US Treasury securities and, to the extent that physical delivery may be involved, could entail significant costs for secure transport and storage. As such, gold doesn’t fit well within the asset-matching framework. Proceeds from gold sales were invested in high-quality, interest-bearing, foreign-currency assets.
The impact of price competitiveness on Germany’s export strength, by contrast, is often overestimated. Finally, the external surpluses by definition also imply that total investment in Germany was lower than total saving.