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

To: Alex who wrote (8600)	3/21/1998 4:48:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116762

Fazio emphasised that no decision on the amount of gold 02:36 p.m Mar 21, 1998 Eastern Fazio emphasised that no decision on the amount of gold which the ECB would hold had yet been taken. ''It has yet to be defined,'' Fazio said. Bank of England Governor Eddie George also said on Saturday that the amount of gold which the ECB will hold would only be decided after the Bank's governing council were appointed, which is expected to be around the end of June. Speculation about how much gold the ECB will hold in its reserves resurfaced this week on news Belgium had sold a further 299 tonnes, cutting its holding to around 13 percent of its total reserves. So far, the gold market is betting on the ECB holding between five and 20 percent of the yellow metal. Fazio is the first European central banker to indicate the market may be wrong in this view. However, Belgian Central Bank Governor Alfons Verplaetse said last week that gold would form a third of Belgian reserves following the launch of EMU in January 1999. The difference between today's 13 percent and the holding then can be accounted for by the fact that an estimated 470 billion Belgian francs worth of Belgian foreign reserves are presently held in currencies which will become euros from January 1999. Under the Maastricht Treaty, the ECB will hold up to 50 billion euros in reserves, but the Treaty does not define what the composition of those reserves should be. Each country taking part in economic and monetary union (EMU) will contribute to the reserves in line with its share in the bank's capital. According to a calculation made by Reuters last week, Italy's share would be some 15 percent, or 7.5 billion euros. Those countries not taking part in the single currency at its launch are under no obligation to transfer reserves to the ECB, meaning the actual level of reserves the ECB holds at its launch may be less than 50 billion euros. MORE Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.