Gold and Foreign Exchange Reserves
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential role of monetary gold in improving the resilience of the UK’s official reserves during periods of (a) financial market stress, (b) geopolitical conflict, (c) disruption to international payment systems and (d) significant currency volatility.
Answered by Treasury
The Exchange Equalisation Account (EEA) has held 9.98 million ounces of gold since March 2002. The Government has no plans to permanently change the stock of gold it holds.
HM Treasury and the Bank of England agree the strategic asset allocation of EEA annually. The allocation is determined in line with the EEA’s policy objectives and its investment principles of readiness, risk tolerance and optimising risk-adjusted return.
Gold remains an important component of the EEA’s diversified portfolio.
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