Despite calls for Europe's most indebted countries to sell their gold assets to shore up their finances, analysts doubt this will resolve the debt crisis.
September 2, 2011
LONDON (REUTERS)
Europe's most indebted nations are under heavy pressure from their richer neighbors to sort out their finances, but they are unlikely to mimic the impoverished gentlefolk of old by selling off the family silver -- or in their case, gold -- to do so.
More than 750 tonnes of gold are currently sitting in the state coffers of Portugal, Greece and Spain alone, equal to about 17 percent of the 2010 annual supply of bullion from mining and sales of scrap.
Despite struggling with massive debt burdens and in some cases accepting multi-billion-euro bailout packages, the so-called PIIGS -- the countries above, plus Ireland and Italy -- have not dipped into their gold reserves to service that debt.
At a time when gold prices have rallied to record highs near $2,000 an ounce, this has raised eyebrows elsewhere in Europe.
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