Reply #45: China's gold reserves double in value

[54anickel]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13132-2102426,00.html

CHINA has put Gordon Brown’s investment philosophy to shame by enjoying a near-doubling of the value of its gold reserves.

The People’s Republic has gold reserves worth $10.8 billion (£6.2 billion), based on yesterday’s $558.60 gold fix in London, compared with about $6.6 billion at the end of 2002, when China last increased its stake.

The Chinese central bank holds 600 tonnes of gold, according to new figures from the World Gold Council, the gold industry’s marketing arm.

China almost doubled its gold reserves to the 600 tonne level between 2000 and 2002, at a time when the Chancellor was a bullion seller.

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America, the world’s biggest economy, also heads the list of nations placing their faith in the precious metal. America’s gold reserves are 8,135 tonnes, worth $146 billion and accounting for 73.2 per cent of America’s total foreign reserves. The central banks of Germany and Italy are similarly fond of gold as a prudent investment, and alongside France, which has reduced its gold holding, hold more than half their total foreign reserves in gold.

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