Cyprus central bank has no plan to sell gold reserves, officials say
Cyprus has no plan to sell gold reserves to fund its 10-billion-euro ($13.75 billion) bailout, officials at the central bank said on Friday.
Cyprus’s government in April undertook to look into selling its gold reserves to raise 400 million euros to help finance part of its EU-IMF bailout.
“We do not intend to sell the gold,” a senior official at the central bank told Reuters, declining to be identified.
Central bank officials said the gold reserves, valued at 441 million euros on its balance sheet, were important to safeguard the institution’s independence.
Asked about any alternative method to raise the 400 million euros, the official said: “They (the government) have to go back to the troika and say this (a gold sale) is not going to happen.”
The official was referring to the troika of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
While the Cypriot government had said sales would be considered, the central bank had typically been cool to the idea.
The governor of the central bank would have the final say in such a sale, the central bank sources said.
International lenders have flung a financial lifeline to the Mediterranean island, which was forced to seize deposits at two major banks to finance its side of the deal in March.
[Reuters]
