I guess Gold in your own vaults cannot be confiscated by an enemy unless they successfully invade your country.
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Yep but the Government set the price.
I wonder who got exemptions?
Anyway I'm just pointing out that even in a country like the US the so called land of the free things like this can happen.
India has done something similar by raising duties on gold to try & modernize the rural economy.
They compensated at about $20/ounce which was the price (and face value of a gold eagle coin) for years but then they revalued gold to about $35/ounce!! Difficult times, can result in drastic actions. American exemptions included industrial uses, and a personal allowance of 5 ounces.
With respect to sovereign reserves, gold in vaults in your own country are safer than foreign currency funds. For example Russian sovereign foreign currency funds held overseas were effectively blocked as Europe and the USA prohibited transactions with Russia’s Central Bank. Whereas Gold from your own vaults would not be encumbered and Russia could use them to transact with friendly countries. China would have taken note.
Edit: Info. on prosecutions was incorrect.
To move to another definition of margin or spread or profit margin. If one buys an ounce of gold at NZ 3,000 dollars from a reputable dealer. What would the dealer offer if it was offered back to him the next day [assuming the bullion and exchange rates stayed the same].
Reportedly China has paused its gold purchases. Always hard to know with Chinese data but last month holdings stayed static after significant purchases over the last year or two.
I hear they are pretty well stocked with copper as well.
It will be interesting to see if it's a data blip or short term thing, which that latter I suspect is correct.