Swiss gold sales face first hurdle next week
12:33 p.m. Dec 10, 1998 Eastern
ZURICH, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Switzerland's proposal to sell some
1,300 tonnes of excess gold reserves faces its first hurdle in parliament
next week when the lower house is set to vote on a constitutional
amendment that would allow the sale.
The amendment severing the Swiss franc's official link to gold is
scheduled to come up for the vote in the lower house of parliament on
Thursday, December 17, a spokesman for the parliament in Berne said.
If adopted, the measure would then move to the upper house for a vote
in early 1999. The exact timetable has not yet been set.
If both houses of parliament approve, the measure must still be blessed
by Swiss voters in a referendum that is unlikely to be held before 2000.
''The fate of this whole thing will not be clear before 2000,'' a finance
ministry official said.
According to the plan, the Swiss National Bank could revalue its 2,590
tonnes of gold reserves at some 60 percent of the market price.
Reserves are now valued at 4,595 Swiss francs per kilo, just over a
third of current market prices.
This would let Switzerland gradually sell up to 500 tonnes of excess
gold to finance a proposed humanitarian fund for victims of poverty and
disasters. It could sell the other 800 or so tonnes for general budget
purposes.
Swiss officials have stresed they would spread any sales over several
years to minimise the impact on the gold price.
((Zurich newsroom +41 1 631 7340 fax +41 1 202 5538,
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Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. |
