FINANCIAL NOTES
GOLD RESERVES
THE position of the Exchange Equalisation Account on September 30th, disclosed at the end of the year, shows that the Exchange Account between March 31st and September 30th increased its own gold holdings by 13,180,000 ounces, or about L92,000,000 with gold at £7 per ounce. In the same period the Bank of England acquired, doubtless from the Exchange Equalisation Account, an additional 3,001,000 ounces, worth at current prices £21,000,000. So the total gold reserves in the Bank and in the Exchange Account rose in
(Continued on page 36.)
FINANCIAL NOTES
(Continued from page 34.)
six months by £113,300,000 to £816,900,000. That is the net result of the action of the Exchange Account in stemming the " gold scare " of April and resisting the pressure on the franc in June. The gold stock disclosed is much the largest that the Treasury and the Bank of England between them have ever controlled. It gives the impression of being big enough to stand any strain that is likely to be put upon it. But it is probably not quite as large now as it was on September 30th. The day-to-day operations of the Exchange Account are necessarily secret. It exists to curb the currency speculator, not to oblige him ; hence the necessity for disclosing its position three months after the event. * *
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