MUMBAI — The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday said its physical gold stock remains unchanged at 880.52 tonnes, rejecting media reports that suggested the central bank had sold part of its gold reserves.
In a statement, the RBI said it had seen reports in some sections of the media about a possible sale of gold by the central bank and said those reports were incorrect.
“The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come across reports in certain sections of the media about RBI’s sale of gold. The RBI emphasises that these reports are not correct,” the central bank said.
“In this context, it is clarified that the physical stock of gold is disclosed by RBI in its Monthly Bulletin. The latest edition is available on the RBI website and the physical stock of gold remains unchanged at 880.52 tonnes as on date,” it added.
The RBI said details about its gold holdings are regularly disclosed in its Monthly Bulletin, which is published on the central bank’s official website.
The central bank also advised the public to rely only on official information released by the RBI on such matters.
“Members of public are, therefore, advised to rely on official information published by RBI from time to time in such matters,” the RBI said.
The clarification came after a Bloomberg report said the RBI may have reduced part of its gold holdings to protect its foreign currency reserves from the impact of the ongoing conflict in West Asia.
According to the report, the RBI likely sold gold reserves worth about $12 billion during the two weeks ended May 22 while purchasing $7.5 billion in foreign currency assets.
The report also said the RBI’s interventions in the foreign exchange market appeared to have supported the rupee, helping the Indian currency perform better than most Asian peers since May 20, when it touched a record low. (Source: IANS)
