Prince Henri Auditoire 02 BW

Joint statement on gold

26.09.1999
  • European Central Bank
  • Oesterreichische Nationalbank
  • Banque Nationale de Belgique
  • Suomen Pankki
  • Banque de France
  • Deutsche Bundesbank
  • Central Bank of Ireland
  • Banca d´Italia
  • Banque centrale du Luxembourg
  • De Nederlandsche Bank
  • Banco de Portugal
  • Banco de España
  • Sveriges Riksbank
  • Schweizerische Nationalbank
  • Bank of England

In the interest of clarifying their intentions with respect to their gold holdings, the undersigned institutions make the following statement:

  1. Gold will remain an important element of global monetary reserves.
  2. The undersigned institutions will not enter the market as sellers, with the exception of already decided sales.
  3. The gold sales already decided will be achieved through a concerted programme of sales over the next five years. Annual sales will not exceed approximately 400 tons and total sales over this period will not exceed 2,000 tons.
  4. The signatories to this agreement have agreed not to expand their gold leasings and their use of gold futures and options over this period.
  5. This agreement will be reviewed after five years.