IMF sells 200 tonnes of gold to Reserve Bank of India

NEW DELHI: International Monetary Fund has sold 200 tonnes of gold to the Reserve Bank of India, nearly half the total approved by the IMF executive board in September.

Proceeds from the off-market sale amounted to $US6.7 billion ($7.4bn), or 4.2 billion of special drawing rights, or SDR, a combination of currencies, the IMF said. Payment is expected to be in major currencies that make up the SDR.

IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn welcomed the transaction as an important step toward achieving the objectives of the gold sales program, namely "to help put the fund's finances on a sound long-term footing and enable us to step up much-needed concessional lending to the poorest countries".

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