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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IngotWeTrust who wrote (51350)	4/12/2000 11:07:00 AM
From: Alex	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116836

Fair use....Swiss cenbank will start gold sales in May Marcel Michelson Zurich ? The Swiss central bank will start gold sales in early May and will inform the markets at that time about the way it will proceed, a central bank spokesman said on Wednesday. The Finance Ministry said earlier Switzerland would officially abandon the gold standard, which it ditched for all practical purposes a few decades ago, on May 1 with a new currency law that paved the way for the gold sales. "We will start the gold sales in early May and we will also at that time inform the markets about the way we will proceed," the spokesman for the Swiss National Bank (SNB) said. The Finance Ministry said in its statement the SNB would coordinate the sales closely with other European central banks. The SNB has 2590 tonnes of gold, while under the new WZG currency law it has surplus reserves of 1300 tonnes. The currency law passed both houses of parliament late last year and the government decided on a May 1 start date after a period for notifying referendums on the issue has lapsed. "The start of the WZG creates the possibilities of a revaluation of the SNB gold reserves as well as for gold sales. In order to prevent negative effects on the gold price, the SNB agreed last September to coordinate its sales closely with other European central banks," the statement said. SALES POSSIBLE BUT SPENDING STILL OPEN The Finance Ministry added that while the WZG paved the way for the gold sales, it was not a legal ground for the transfer of the funds obtained out of the SNB's balance sheet. This needs special legal steps which are in progress. The Swiss government decided on January 10 that the revenues from the sale of 500 tonnes of gold should be used for a Swiss solidarity foundation for humanitarian actions whose exact goals still have to be defined. For another 800 tonnes, which would have a value of 10.4bn Swiss francs ($6.35bn) for an annual investment revenue of some 300 million, the utilisation is still under discussion. Possible beneficiaries are the AHV pension fund or educational purposes such as information technology and communication studies as well as the building of new schools. The new WZG currency law will replace and finalise earlier government decisions on the non-convertibility of banknotes of June 1954 and the end of the franc's gold parity of May 1971. GOLD MARKET KEPT INFORMED The gold market may still be awaiting the exact timing of the Swiss sales but is well informed about the plans. The SNB has said all along that it would start with the sales as soon as the necessary legal changes were in place. A number of central banks are in the process of selling surplus reserves. Last week the Austrian National Bank sold 30 tonnes and said it planned to sell another 60 tonnes by 2004. On March 1, the Dutch central bank sold 100 tonnes of gold and its speedy transaction was then seen as paving the way for the Swiss to sell after Easter. The Dutch sale was the first tranche of a 300-tonne five-year programme. Britain auctioned 25 tonnes of gold in March in the fifth sale of a programme to more than halve the United Kingdom's bullion reserves. Fifteen European central banks have agreed on coordinating and limiting gold sales in order not to undermine the market. (1.639 Swiss Franc) news.24.com