RE: China wants tons of GOLDSorry to burst your bubble Jenny but I think you'll enjoy this read. Oooo, ooooo and betwetters.......too funny. Another nice try from the mentally challenged space cadet JennyBGoode.
China Isn’t a ‘Realistic Candidate’ for IMF Gold, Council Says
February 22, 2010, 03:22 PM EST By Millie Munshi
Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world’s biggest gold producer, isn’t a “realistic candidate” to buy bullion from the International Monetary Fund, the World Gold Council said.
Analysts including Citigroup Inc.’s Alan Heap have said that the People’s Bank of China is likely to buy bullion from the IMF in order to diversify its assets. The Asian country wasn’t listed by the IMF as a direct purchaser in private deals late last year. The lender has sold 212 metric tons of bullion.
“We’re not surprised to see that China has not” purchased IMF gold, said George Milling-Stanley, the London-based council’s managing director for government affairs, said in a telephone interview from New York. The country is more likely to “buy local gold production” to add to its reserves.
The IMF, which set out to sell about 13 percent of its gold reserves, said on Feb. 17 it will “shortly” expand sales to the open market after the central banks of India, Mauritius and Sri Lanka bought the metal. The institution has about 191.3 tons left to sell as part of a plan to shore up its finances and lend at a reduced rate to low-income countries.
“There has been some ill-informed comment that this move tarnished the notion that governments are adding to reserves,” Milling-Stanley said. “There are a lot of central banks out there that are buying local production in local currency. The IMF would have no interest in that local currency. The IMF is looking for dollars.”
‘Deeply Dissatisfied’
China’s central bank is “deeply dissatisfied with the performance of its U.S. Treasury holdings and has made clear its intention to diversify, including into gold,” Citigroup’s Heap said in a report sent today.
Gold futures for April delivery fell $9, or 0.8 percent, to $1,113.10 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex unit. The metal jumped 24 percent last year, touching a record $1,227.50 in December.
Including Hong Kong, the Asian nation has $2.7 trillion in international reserve assets, excluding gold, according to Bloomberg data. China produced 292 tons of gold in 2008, according to researcher GFMS Ltd. in London.
“China was always buying its own domestic production and it will likely to continue to do so,” Milling-Stanley said.
--With assistance from Sandrine Rastello in Washington. Editors: Ted Bunker, Patrick McKiernan.