 |
< Previous | Contents | Next >
IMF Accounting of Gold Reserves: Committee Recommendation*
The IMF Committee on Reserve Assets considered Mr. Takeda’s paper and this is the summary of their findings. A clearer description of the treatment of gold swaps and loans is needed; by defining what types of gold loans were involved (is the gold in allocated or unallocated accounts?). The discussion concluded that most swaps and loans involved unallocated gold, and if the gold is not available upon demand, it should be removed from reserve assets. With unallocated gold, the account holder does not hold title to physical gold but instead holds an unsecured claim against the account provider, in effect a deposit with the account provider.**
OUTCOME PAPER (RESTEG) # 11 TREATMENT OF GOLD SWAPS AND GOLD DEPOSITS (LOANS)
Prepared by Hidetoshi Takeda, IMF Statistics Department, July 2006
Outcome of the Discussions:
- RESTEG agreed to include a clearer description of the treatment of gold swaps and gold deposits/loans drawing as appropriate on the relevant text in the Guidelines.
- RESTEG considered that the statistical treatment of gold swaps and gold deposits needed to be addressed from the viewpoint of whether allocated or unallocated gold was involved.
- For instance, one member noted that treatment of gold deposits set out in paragraphs 98 and 99 of the Guidelines needed to be reviewed, as treatments differ depending on whether unallocated gold and allocated gold is involved.
- RESTEG agreed that the statistical treatment of gold deposits/loans of allocated gold should be status quo. That is, if the deposited/loaned gold is available upon demand to the monetary authorities, it can be included in reserve assets as monetary gold (paragraph 99 of the Guidelines). However, if the gold is not available upon demand, it should be removed from reserve assets.
- The meeting was informed that gold swaps primarily involve unallocated gold.
Rejected Alternatives: None.
Actions: It was agreed that the secretariat would investigate further. The work would include appropriate bilateral discussions to discover practices on gold swaps and deposits/loans among central banks, especially those via unallocated gold, and prepare proposals on their statistical treatments for RESTEG discussion through correspondence prior to IMF Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics (BOPCOM) meeting.
The full paper can be viewed at the link below.
* http://www.imf.org/external/np/sta/bop/pdf/resout11.pdf
** http://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/AEG/papers/m4Gold.pdf
< Previous | Contents | Next >
|
|
