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Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stephen O who wrote (4296)	3/15/1999 11:35:00 AM
From: Stephen O	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81068

Gold Falls After French President Supports IMF Gold Sales New York, March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Gold fell 1 percent, its biggest drop in a month, after French President Jacques Chirac said he might support selling some International Monetary Fund gold to reduced debts of poor countries. Wealthy nations should write off at least 80 percent of the debts owned them by poor counties, ''if necessary selling part of the IMF's gold reserves'' to solve the problem of multilateral debt, Chirac said. He joins officials from the U.K. and Germany in supporting an IMF gold sale. The specter of such sales helped send prices to a 19-year low last August. The proposal is ''an ominous plan that is gaining support in Europe,'' said Dinsa Mehta, global head of commodity risks at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York. Gold for April delivery fell as much as $3.00, or 1 percent, to $290.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the biggest drop since Feb. 16 and lowest price in a week. In London, gold for immediate delivery was recently $2.50 lower at $289.85 an ounce in inter-bank trading. The IMF holds about 103 million ounces of gold, the equivalent of more than a year's worth of mine output. Discussions in the past have centered on the sale of about 5 million ounces of that stockpile. Though Chirac, as president, helps guide French foreign policy, he has little control over the government's actions, after his political party lost parliamentary elections two years ago. U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said earlier this month that he has urged the IMF to sell about $1 billion worth of gold to provide debt relief to poor countries. It would take the sale of about 3.5 million ounces to raise $1 billion. --Claudia Carpenter in New York newsroom (212 318-2346, with reporting by Gregory Viscusi in the Paris newsroom (331) 5365 5050 /wb