Gold In The Middle East
Lebanon is a frightening place to live in because of the bomb attacks all the other problems that might occur there. But have you ever had the interest in finding out that Lebanon is ranked on the 15th place in the world when it comes to gold reserves?
The largest gold reserve in the Middle East and North Africa can be found in Lebanon. The gold reserve was 9.2 billion dollars at the end of 2009.
The World Gold Council is the one that ranked it on the 15th place globally. Excluding the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, Lebanon has about 1.1% of the world’s gold reserve. The gold was brought in Lebanon in the 60s and 70s.
The total amount of gold in Lebanon is equivalent to 28.1% of the GDP, putting Lebanon on the first place among other 105 countries. The gold held by the Central Bank is used for two purposes: to support the Lebanese pound if found in the face of depreciation and the protect Lebanon in a financial crisis. The gold is at the power of the Parliament who can choose to liquidate it or to cover soft loans on the local and international market with them. The gold will be left right where it is, say the government and the Central Bank representatives. Their decision is backed up by the experts that believe that liquidating the gold reserve would be a mistake.
Half of the gold reserves can be found in Fort Knox and the other half is stored in the Central Bank. The Central Bank foreign currency reserves have reached a peak of 28.6 billion dollars in 2009 declared the governor of the bank, Said Salameh. The transfers rose by 10% in 2009 and Said Salameh concluded that 2009 was a good year because it brought a surplus of 7.8 billion dollars.
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