RBI buys 200 tonnes of IMF gold for USD 6.7 bn

Lalit K Jha
Washington/New Delhi, Nov 3 (PTI) The Reserve Bank of
India's gold stock has shot up by more than 55 per cent with
the purchase of 200 tonnes of IMF gold at an estimated cost of
USD 6.7 billion.
RBI, which pledged gold during 1991 crisis with the Bank
of England to raise resources to meet external obligations,
today said it has purchased 200 tonnes of gold from
International Monetary Fund (IMF) for USD 6.7 billion.
"The Reserve Bank has decided to buy some gold...about
200 tonnes. That's normally we do (from) time to time. IMF is
selling gold so we wanted to buy it," Indian Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee said in New Delhi.
When asked whether it was a reflection of the growing
economic strength of the nation, Mukherjee quipped, "the
conclusion is yours."
RBI has purchased almost half the gold which the IMF
plans to sell to raise resources to augment its operations and
provide concessional loans to poor countries.
"The purchase was an official sector off-market
transaction and was executed over a two week period during
October 19-30, 2009 at market based prices," RBI said in a
release.
The decision to purchase gold will raise RBI's stock of
the precious metal from 357 tonnes to 557 tonnes, representing
an increase of over 55 per cent. PTI