Turkey, ‘Axis of Gold’ and the End of US Dollar Hegemony

 

Introduction

With a ‘Hard Brexit’ looking more likely and Trump’s inauguration this week, 2017 is well and truly under way.

What we expect the year to hold is probably not even half of what it really will. But from what we know, the upcoming French and German elections, referendums, geopolitical crises, steps towards reverse globalisation and a third of global government debt yielding negative interest rates, governments are already prompting central banks and investors to turn to the one asset that has survived millennia of financial and monetary crises.

One that is highly liquid and convertible into other currencies – gold.

India’s Gold Confiscation & Turkey’s War on Currency

QUESTION: Marty; You have been emphasizing not to buy gold bullion but US gold coins such as the $20. You have said that the last time they confiscated gold coin collections were exempt. With the drastic action in India, and the war on currency in Turkey, is this why you have said stocks and collectibles are a safer bet?

Germans are buying gold at a frantic pace.

It may be a sign they are worried about the future. People tend to buy gold when they fear economic disaster or a spike in prices.

The World Gold Council report released on Thursday said demand for total gold bar and coins spiked by 20% in Germany during the first quarter from the year before.

It’s unusual for gold to be a hot commodity in an economy as strong Germany’s is right now. And growth in Europe has regained momentum in recent months, outpacing even the sluggish pace experienced in the U.S.

Banks approving loans on condition borrowers don’t buy gold

NEW DELHI: With a view to curb appetite for gold, banks are sanctioning advances, including personal loans, only if borrowers agree not to use the proceeds to buy the metal beyond permitted levels.

Banks have placed the condition that borrowers should not use even personal loans to buy gold, a senior official of a private sector bank said.

The measures follow directions from the Reserve Bank of India to banks and NBFCs that are aimed at reining in demand for the yellow metal. The RBI and the government have taken steps to curb demand for gold after imports of the metal widened the current account deficit.