Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, has confirmed that the central bank will not buy gold as part of its asset-backed purchase program.
Draghi made the comment Thursday during the question and answer period of his monthly press conference following the ECB’s monetary policy meeting. He was asked what types of assets the governing council would buy as part of its quantitative easing program.
He responded, “we discussed all assets but gold.”
Speculation arose that gold could be part of the central bank’s asset purchases after Yves Mersch, a member of the ECB executive board, said on Nov. 17 that the central bank has broad range of options in its current quantitative easing program. As an example, he mentioned that gold could be a “theoretical” option.
Some analysts had not taken the comment too seriously as it would take significant gold purchases to impact the ECB’s balance sheet.
Following its monetary policy meeting, the ECB said it would leave the main refinancing operation at 0.05%. Its marginal lending facility rate stands at 0.30% and its deposit facility remains at negative 0.20%.
via Kitco
Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.