Selling the Gold Stock as Bailout of Last Resort

Michael Lewis quotes a senior Bundesbank official on selling the gold stock to meet an ECB insolvency:

The E.C.B. itself might face insolvency, which would mean turning for funds to its solvent member governments, led by Germany. (The senior official at the Bundesbank told me they already have thought about how to deal with the request. “We have 3,400 tons of gold,” he said. “We are the only country that has not sold its original allotment from the [late 1940s]. So we are covered to some extent.”)

The IMF bailed itself out by selling its gold stock. Why not the members of the ECB?

posted on 21 August 2011 by skirchner in Economics, Financial Markets, Gold

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