Friday, March 22, 2013
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Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Portugal is currently sitting on gold reserves worth more than 16 billion euros, which is up 1.4 billion euros on its value at the beginning of the year. Its gold reserves currently amount to 382.5 tonnes - more than that held by the United Kingdom and almost double the amount held jointly in the vaults of major gold-producing countries South Africa and Australia.
Due to these huge reserves, and in a bid to ease the burden the bailout has had on Portugal, neutral analysts have called on the European Union to give Portugal the go-ahead to delve into these stocks, but only to give them up as a guarantee at substantially lower interest rates being charged by the EU’s major shareholders and the IMF.
The World Gold Council (WGC) suggested earlier this month that the European Parliament pushes for Portugal to be allowed to offer gold as collateral for sovereign debt issuance.
“Portugal has gold reserves in excess of 20 percent of its financing requirements over the next two years”, the World Gold Council said in a report based on research done on its behalf by the London-based group, Europe Economics.
Portugal’s gold is not the collective property of the Eurozone and is the sole beneficiary of the gold held at the Bank of Portugal in Lisbon.
But it would still need EU approval to associate its gold with any financial transaction.
The WGC stresses the obvious point that money (euros) “is abstract – numbers on a computer screen. By contrast, gold is concrete. Gold bars might sit in a warehouse or a vault. Creditors could go see them.”
While its stressed monetary actions raise considerable issues of reliability, “the concreteness and simplicity of gold as collateral makes it more credible.
“Physical gold bars could be transferred to a third party location (e.g. London). The Portuguese government would get them back when their debts were redeemed and would not get them back if they defaulted. It is difficult to see how a policy could be more credible”, the European Economics report argues.
Despite the substantial quantity of gold held by the Bank of Portugal on behalf of its citizens, the last occasion its gold was touched was in September 2006, when 20 tonnes was sold off. Despite its gold vault being closed for business the past six years, Portugal’s gold reserves are half now of what they were in 1975.
Nonetheless, Portugal’s reserves represent the highest proportion of GDP (9.49 percent) in the developed world, and when including all nations is only behind Lebanon which stands at 10.32 percent.
Meanwhile, data for October 2012 shows the United States as the overwhelming leader of gold reserves in the world, with a stock amounting to 8,133.5 tonnes, followed by Germany in a distant second with 3,395.5 tonnes. Next on the list is the IMF with 2,814 tonnes, Italy (2,451 tonnes), France (2,435.4 tonnes), China (1,054.1 tonnes), Switzerland (1,040.1 tonnes), Russia (936.7 tonnes), Japan (765.2 tonnes), the Netherlands (612.5 tonnes), India (557.7 tonnes), the ECB (502.1 tonnes), Taiwan (423.6 tonnes) followed by Portugal on 382.5 tonnes.
It has also emerged recently that while the state holds onto its gold riches, its citizens are ridding themselves of the metal at a record rate. Last year, an estimated 13 tonnes of second-hand gold were exported out of Portugal. Most of this gold was obtained by melting down jewellery purchased off desperate consumers by the more than 5,000 registered gold buyers in Portugal.
Due to these huge reserves, and in a bid to ease the burden the bailout has had on Portugal, neutral analysts have called on the European Union to give Portugal the go-ahead to delve into these stocks, but only to give them up as a guarantee at substantially lower interest rates being charged by the EU’s major shareholders and the IMF.
The World Gold Council (WGC) suggested earlier this month that the European Parliament pushes for Portugal to be allowed to offer gold as collateral for sovereign debt issuance.
“Portugal has gold reserves in excess of 20 percent of its financing requirements over the next two years”, the World Gold Council said in a report based on research done on its behalf by the London-based group, Europe Economics.
Portugal’s gold is not the collective property of the Eurozone and is the sole beneficiary of the gold held at the Bank of Portugal in Lisbon.
But it would still need EU approval to associate its gold with any financial transaction.
The WGC stresses the obvious point that money (euros) “is abstract – numbers on a computer screen. By contrast, gold is concrete. Gold bars might sit in a warehouse or a vault. Creditors could go see them.”
While its stressed monetary actions raise considerable issues of reliability, “the concreteness and simplicity of gold as collateral makes it more credible.
“Physical gold bars could be transferred to a third party location (e.g. London). The Portuguese government would get them back when their debts were redeemed and would not get them back if they defaulted. It is difficult to see how a policy could be more credible”, the European Economics report argues.
Despite the substantial quantity of gold held by the Bank of Portugal on behalf of its citizens, the last occasion its gold was touched was in September 2006, when 20 tonnes was sold off. Despite its gold vault being closed for business the past six years, Portugal’s gold reserves are half now of what they were in 1975.
Nonetheless, Portugal’s reserves represent the highest proportion of GDP (9.49 percent) in the developed world, and when including all nations is only behind Lebanon which stands at 10.32 percent.
Meanwhile, data for October 2012 shows the United States as the overwhelming leader of gold reserves in the world, with a stock amounting to 8,133.5 tonnes, followed by Germany in a distant second with 3,395.5 tonnes. Next on the list is the IMF with 2,814 tonnes, Italy (2,451 tonnes), France (2,435.4 tonnes), China (1,054.1 tonnes), Switzerland (1,040.1 tonnes), Russia (936.7 tonnes), Japan (765.2 tonnes), the Netherlands (612.5 tonnes), India (557.7 tonnes), the ECB (502.1 tonnes), Taiwan (423.6 tonnes) followed by Portugal on 382.5 tonnes.
It has also emerged recently that while the state holds onto its gold riches, its citizens are ridding themselves of the metal at a record rate. Last year, an estimated 13 tonnes of second-hand gold were exported out of Portugal. Most of this gold was obtained by melting down jewellery purchased off desperate consumers by the more than 5,000 registered gold buyers in Portugal.
GOVERNO SEM GOVERNAÇÃO?
O défice público que significa
que não existe cobrança de impostos, dado o número de falências e o crescente
diário, constante e perigoso número de desempregados, é de 4 mil milhões e 400
mil Euros. O dinheiro do QREN, por
incrível que possa parecer, destina-se a investimentos empresariais nos CPLP. A
criação de emprego em Portugal, é assim, uma Utopia.
Em 4 anos futuros, o pagamento de
impostos das grandes empresas, e de joint ventures financeiras ligadas a
Holding’s de Bancos de Investimento, deixarão de ser efectuados em sede de
Portugal. A “mentira conveniente” da classe política, é a de apelar ao
investimento estrangeiro, quando esse investimento é realizado nas operações
financeiras na Bolsa de Valores, exactamente e não ingenuamente, para assim
obterem retornos desse capital que segue para África.
A reforma do Estado, que deveria ser
efectuada pelo Tribunal de Contas, e não decidida por presumíveis
“entendedores” da organização financeira do Estado, serve apenas para despedir
cegamente, os excedentários, e cegamente significa: “quem são os
excendentários?” e “quem é que decide quem são os excendentários?”, novamente,
e face à lei, deveria ser competência
legal do Tribunal de Contas essa análise técnica, e não partir de decisão
governamental, com ou sem, acordo parlamentar.
Neste caso, o cenário de uma
fracção populacional inactiva, prolonga a crise do défice público, porque os “inactivos”
são uma despesa orçamental pública colossal.
Os banqueiros, pouco interessados
nos depósitos bancários oriundos do “trabalho”, dado que não vinga a
competitividade empresarial portuguesa, face à globalização, e face à
globalização, resta a Portugal recorrer das exportações tradicionais, para
novos mercados, que não exactamente o mercado comunitário em crise e também,
com a desistência de reformular o valor do trabalho em relação ao tipo de contrato
laboral, que na minha opinião, o conceito da “flexibilidade” dos contratos
laborais, encontra-se em contradição com as políticas dos Países emergentes,
porque nos Países em Desenvolvimento, os contratos de trabalho asseguram os
impostos. A acrescentar ainda a ideia conceptual da “refundação do Estado” muito vazia de conteúdo ideológico, não observando
critérios de competências versus salários, e questionando :“Para quê Governo
sem Governação?”.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
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