http://english.people.com.cn/ http://english.people.com.cn/images/en/top_logo_e.gif People's Daily Online http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90778/ 7574009 2011-08-28 15:38:03 &$Edited and Translated by People's Daily Online &$&$ According to data on every country's gold reserves recently issued by World Gold Council (WGC), the United States’ gold reserves are 8,133.5 tons, accounting for 26.49 percent of the world’s total, and the Untied States is still the largest gold reserve country. China’s gold reserves are a little more than 1,054 tons, ranking sixth in the world. Although China's gold reserve is not less in quantity, it accounts for only ...]]> &$Edited and Translated by People's Daily Online &$&$ According to data on every country's gold reserves recently issued by World Gold Council (WGC), the United States’ gold reserves are 8,133.5 tons, accounting for 26.49 percent of the world’s total, and the Untied States is still the largest gold reserve country. China’s gold reserves are a little more than 1,054 tons, ranking sixth in the world. Although China's gold reserve is not less in quantity, it accounts for only 1.6 percent of China's total foreign reserves. In comparison, the Untied States' gold reserves account for 74 percent of its foreign reserve, and even emerging countries including Russia and India have gold reserves accounting for more than 5 percent of their foreign reserves. Insiders said that it is good for emerging economies to hold more gold reserves. It is the trend that the Central Bank of China will hold greater gold reserves. The gold purchased by every country in 2011 is three times as much as the gold they purchased in 2010 In fact, before Standard and Poor's downgraded the U.S. credit rating, the central bank of every country already started to gradually increase their gold reserves because of the European and U.S. debt crises and the declining confidence in the U.S. dollar and Euro. People have noticed that the countries that dumped gold in the past 20 years actually turned into net gold purchaser in 2010 because they want to realize foreign reserve diversification and reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar. According to data issued by the WGC, governments of all the countries have purchased a little more than 203 tons of gold in 2011, three times as much as the gold they purchased in 2010. It indicates that every country is more and more regarding the gold as a tool for resisting the depreciation of paper money and global economic turbulence. Currently, China's foreign reserves are definitely the largest in the world, but China’s gold reserves are still far less than the global average level. Jing Naiquan, head of the China Gold Investment Research Institute, said that the major role of gold is its stable value amid crisis. Holding gold can reduce the shrinkage of wealth and avoid the exchange rate risk in the foreign exchange market. Furthermore, state governments will likely face debt crisis after the international financial crisis. Thus, if a state government holds a certain proportion of gold reserves, it can use them to pay back debt. Therefore, gold is of great significance to preserve a country's financial security. The United States holds about 8,100 tons of gold reserves; Germany, 3,400 tons, and France and Italy each, 2,500 tons. These countries have paid high costs for their gold reserves, showing that they have drawn particular attention to the strategic importance of gold reserves. Gold reserves support national credit Although it is necessary for China to raise the relatively low proportion of gold reserves, many experts said that now is not the right time to do it. China can buy gold after market corrections. Many other people have also made suggestions about investing more foreign exchange reserves in gold. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange recently responded that the commodities such as gold, silver, oil and m ]]> 7346419 2011-08-29 20:09:56 &$By People's Daily Online&$&$ ]]>