Venezuela's Central Bank May Purchase Gold for Coins (Update1)
Arizona Coin Collector
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aVL5dFLFQ52s
Venezuela's Central Bank May Purchase Gold for Coins (Update1)
By Claudia Carpenter
Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela's central bank may buy
15 metric tons of gold a year to develop gold investment
products including coins, said Eli Sanchez, head of the
gold department at Venezuela's central bank.
``Part of our function is to increase participation in
the gold market,'' Sanchez said in an interview in London
today. ``The point is in Venezuela you don't have the
opportunity to invest in gold at this moment.''
The coins would be similar to Krugerrands in South Africa
and Eagle coins in the U.S., he said, adding that Venezuela
also has about 10 tons of the metal that may be used.
Gold is a ``very important part'' of Venezuela's monetary
reserves and there are no plans to sell the metal, Sanchez
said. ``Gold is very correlated to the price of oil.''
Venezuela holds 356 tons of gold, or about 30 percent of
reserves, he said.
European central banks may sell 365 tons of gold in the
year through Sept. 26, the least since they agreed to
limit their annual sales in 1999, the World Gold Council
said yesterday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Carpenter
in London at ccarp...@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: September 17, 2008 07:33 EDT
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