RBI buys 200 metric tonnes gold from IMF for USD 6.7 bn

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Nov 3 (PTI) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
has bought 200 metric tonnes of gold from the International
Monetary Fund for about USD 6.7 billion.
The IMF targets to sell about 403.3 metric tonnes of gold
to shore up its finances so that it can lend money to the
poorest countries at concessional rates.
"This transaction is an important step toward achieving
the objectives of the IMF's limited gold sales programme,
which are to help put the Fund's finances on a sound long-term
footing and enable us to step up much-needed concessional
lending to the poorest countries," IMF Managing Director
Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.
The transaction, which is still in the process of being
settled, was carried out on a daily basis over a period of two
weeks October 19-30. Each daily sale was conducted at a price
set on the basis of market prices prevailing that day.
"The total sales proceeds are equivalent to USD 6.7
billion or SDR 4.2 billion," the IMF said.
As per IMF rule, all gold sales must be conducted at
prices based on market prices, including direct sales to
official holders as in the case of this transaction.
At its meeting on September 18, the IMF Executive Board
had approved to sell 403.3 metric tonnes of gold, which is
one-eighth of the Fund's total holding, to increase the its
resources for lending to low-income countries under a strategy
endorsed by the Board in July. PTI