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Apparently without announcement, IMF sold 5.6 tonnes in February
2p ET Monday, April 26, 2010
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
The Reuters story below reports the World Gold Council's announcement of a sale in February of 5.6 tonnes of gold by the International Monetary Fund. The WGC is quoted as having discovered the sale in a recently published IMF statistical report. As far as we can determine, the IMF itself has issued no press release or other public statement about the February sales. So the identity of the buyers apparently cannot yet be determined.
Maybe the gold council has made a false assumption. It is quoted as saying that the IMF statistical report showed a 5.62-tonne reduction in the IMF's gold holdings. Could the gold not have been sold at all but rather reclaimed by an IMF member?
For the moment it may not be possible to be sure of anything here, except that the comment attributed to the WGC that the IMF is undertaking its gold sales in a "transparent manner" is laughable. Transparent is the last thing the IMF is, and the last thing the gold market itself is. There's a reason for that: market manipulation.
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
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World Gold Council Says IMF Sold 5.6 Tonnes in February
By Jan Harvey
Reuters
Monday, April 26, 2010
LONDON -- The International Monetary Fund sold 5.6 tonnes of gold in February under the second phase of its gold sales programme, the World Gold Council said on Monday.
The IMF's sales are taking place under the umbrella of the third Central Bank Gold Agreement, which began in September 2009. Signatories of the CBGA are largely euro zone central banks, the largest gold holder of which is Germany.
Total sales under the pact, which limits signatories' gold sales to 400 tonnes a year, were just 7.2 tonnes to April 20.
The IMF began its planned sales of 403.3 tonnes of gold last year. After the sales reported by the WGC, plus those of 200 tonnes to India and smaller amounts to Sri Lanka and Mauritius last year, it has a further 185.7 tonnes of gold to sell.
"To date, 212 tonnes of gold have been sold by the IMF in off-market transactions and the April edition of the (IMF's International Financial Statistics) reported a 5.62-tonne reduction in IMF holdings," the WGC said in a report.
Separately, it said the remaining gold earmarked by the IMF for disposal would "be sold in a phased and transparent manner within the ceiling set by the CBGA, so as to avoid any disruption to the gold market."
Among signatories of the CGBA, Germany has sold 0.9 tonnes of gold so far under the third CBGA, Malta has sold 0.3 tonnes, and unknown countries a further 0.4 tonnes, the WGC said.
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