|
Members of the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP)
want a law to prevent the country's central bank -- currently struggling to
tame a super-strong Swiss franc -- from selling its gold reserves.
The proposal, dubbed "Save our Swiss Gold,"
would be put to a referendum if it won enough initial support.
It would not only ban the Swiss National Bank from
selling its gold reserves, but would also force it to hold at least 20
percent of its assets in gold, the text published in an official register
said.
Switzerland has sold no gold since
August 2008, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund. At
the end of 2010, the SNB's gold holdings were valued at 43.3 billion francs
-- about 16 percent of its total assets of 274 billion Swiss francs
(currently $310 billion).
The initiative states the SNB's gold would have to
be stored in Switzerland.
Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung quoted the
text of a speech by SVP parliamentarian Ulrich Schluer
who said the Swiss public was being robbed of its "wealth", with
gold reserves a symbol of "each person's hard work, inventive talent,
pioneer spirit, motivation and economic power."
The initiators of the gold proposal will now have 18
months to collect the 100,000 signatures required to call a referendum.
Switzerland is a signatory of the third
Central Bank Gold Agreement, which runs from Sept 2009 to Sept 2014. Under
the agreement gold sales from signatory central banks will not exceed 2,000 tonnes,
or 400 tonnes in any one year of the deal. Switzerland has sold no gold since
August 2008, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund. At
the end of 2010, the SNB's gold holdings were valued at 43.3 billion francs
-- about 16 percent of its total assets of 274 billion Swiss francs
(currently $310 billion).
You can check the evolution of Switzerland’s
gold reserves here
|
