Swiss Upper House Committee Recommends Gold Reserves Sale
Bern, Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- A plan to let the Swiss
National Bank sell up to 1,300 metric tons of gold in its
reserves unanimously cleared a committee of Switzerland's
upper house of parliament.
The vote of the commission, with one abstention,
virtually assures passage later this year by the full 46-
member upper house, which would then refer the issue to
Swiss voters in a referendum expected next year.
The lower house approved the measure in December.
If approved by voters, Switzerland, the world's third-
largest holder of the precious metal, could sell as much as
1,300 metric tons of gold reserves. That's about half the
amount mined around the world last year.
Switzerland's plan has sparked fear that more countries
will sell reserves. A spate of government sales in 1997
helped push gold down 22 percent that year, a decline that
ended last August at a 19-year low of $271.13 an ounce.
Government gold holdings worldwide amount to more than
quarter of all gold ever produced.
--Andreas Britt in Bern, through the Frankfurt newsroom (41-
79) 345 9084/kjo
They keep the news pressure on. |
