Interesting IMF transcript
April 27, 1999
from imf.org
QUESTION: Mr. Camdessus, talking about the HIPC Initiative and ESAF, the statement reads on page 7, the last paragraph, "It also urged the Executive Board to adopt as soon as possible the decisions needed to ensure that the initiatives--meaning ESAF and HIPC--are fully funded." One, does that include the sale of gold? If so, what are the amounts being talked about? Thirdly, when do you hope to reach a decision about the sale of IMF gold?
MR. CAMDESSUS: You read well, sir. This will certainly entail some sales of gold, and I must tell you that the Interim Committee meeting today has been particularly important, as we heard that there is now practically a unanimous consensus in the Committee for accepting that inasmuch as bilateral contributions do not cover the entire cost for the IMF of the HIPC Initiative, we should proceed--as we said in 1996--with the "optimization of our reserve management," which was code at that time for mentioning gold sales.
On the amount of gold sales, initially we were considering the sale of 5 million ounces. Higher numbers have been pronounced by a few members of the Interim Committee. We will have to see what are the exact needs and where the consensus lies among the members of the Committee. When will this sale start? The decision will certainly be taken soon, because I have perceived from the members of the Interim Committee the wish of coming very soon to a finalization of the financial arrangements for funding HIPC. After that, after the decision, as you can imagine, we will proceed in an orderly and prudent way; it is certainly not our intention to proceed in such a way which could introduce disorderly developments in the gold market. We have a certain experience of sales of gold, as during the 1970s we sold three times or more the amount we are considering today. We did that in a very smooth and transparent way at that time. We intend to proceed similarly this time. |
