Central banks increased the amount of gold they lent for the first time in a decade in 2011, as they used their bullion reserves to help commercial banks raise US dollars, says the FT. Thomson Reuters GFMS, the precious metal consultancy that publishes benchmark statistics on the gold market, on Tuesday said that the quantity of gold lent by central banks had risen last year for the first time since 2000. “There is growing evidence that short-term loans from some central banks to commercial banks could well have increased considerably [in 2011], with the latter then using gold to swap for US dollars,” GFMS said.

This entry was posted by Kate Mackenzie on Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 at 5:13 and is featured in The 6am Cut London (18 Jan 2012) . Tagged with central banks, gold. Edit this entry.