Gold
Reserves (or gold holdings) are held by central banks as a store
of value. At the end of 2004 central banks and official organizations
held 19 percent of all above ground gold as a reserve asset. In 2001,
it was estimated that all the gold ever mined totalled 145,000 tons.
As one metric tonne equals 1,000 kilograms (or 32,150 troy ounces),
this equated to a value of US$3 trillion in April 2006. For comparison,
the entire global market capitalization for all stock markets was
US$43.6 trillion in March 2006. About one percent of all above ground
gold (370 metric tons) was mined in the first five years of the California
Gold Rush (worth approximately US$7.2 billion at November 2006 prices).
IMF gold reserves
IMF gold reserves refers to 3,217 tons of gold held by the International
Monetary Fund. It is currently priced at a range of $40 and $50 a
troy ounce ($1,300 to $1,600/kg), a price that was fixed in the 1970s
before the Nixon government stopped pegging the U.S. dollar to the
gold and instead allowed market forces to set the dollar's worth.
An attempt to revalue the gold reserve to today's value has met resistance
for different reasons. For example, Canada, a major gold producer,
is against the idea of revaluing the reserve, as it would flood the
market with gold and therefore depress its price. It is also not clear
whether the gold reserve is the property of the IMF or of member countries.
Three quarters of the gold reserve was contributed by G5 members,
namely France, Germany, Japan, United States and United Kingdom.
Privately held gold
As of January 2007, gold exchange-traded funds held 629 tons of gold
in total for private and institutional investors. In 2004, it was
estimated that the Indian public held 13,000 tons of gold in jewelry
or other forms.
Official reported gold reserves
As of 22 September 2005, the largest gold holdings in tons as reported
by the World Gold Council can be seen on the table below. The United
States holding of gold is worth approximately US$164 billion (December
2006)
1 United States
8,133.5
2 Germany
3,427.8
3 International Monetary Fund
3,217.3
4 France
2,892.6
5 Italy
2,451.8
6 Switzerland
1,290.1
7 Japan
765.2
8 Netherlands
722.4
9 European Central Bank
719.9
10 China, Mainland
600.0
11 Spain
493.3
12 Taiwan
423.3
13 Portugal
407.5
14 Russia
386.6
15 India
357.7
16 Venezuela
357.4
17 United Kingdom
311.3
18 Austria
307.5
19 Lebanon
286.8
20 Belgium
227.7
21 Philippines
187.9
22 Bank for International Settlements
185.3
23 Algeria
173.6
24 Sweden
155.4
25 Libya
143.8
26 Saudi Arabia
143.0
27 Singapore
127.4
28 South Africa
123.9
29 Turkey
116.1
30 Greece
107.9
31 Romania
104.9
32 Poland
102.9
33 Indonesia
96.5
34 Thailand
84.0
35 Australia
79.7
36 Kuwait
79.0
37 Egypt
75.6
38 Denmark
66.5
39 Pakistan
65.3
40 Kazakhstan
58.6
Courtesy of: www.wikipedia.org