Swiss Gold to the Rescue

[Barron]

(gm) Ulrich Schlüer, a member of Switzerland’s National Council for the Swiss People’s Party, has submitted an unusual Parliamentary initiative. Based on Article 160 Paragraph 1 of the Swiss Federal Constitution and Article 107 of the Swiss Parliament Act, he has drafted a remarkable proposal according to which the Swiss Constitution should be amended as follows: “The Swiss Federal Government shall create an official Swiss Gold Franc constituting a set of coins, each of which has a fixed gold content. The Government shall regulate the allocation of concessions to institutions entitled to issue the coins tax-free.” One of the politician’s aims in this is to help small investors, who suffer inflation more than ever before. “At today’s gold price of around 45000 francs per kilo, it will allow Swiss citizens to protect themselves more effectively against the devaluation of money,” he states in his draft.The “affordable people’s coins” are to enter the market with a gold content of 0.1 grams – which would cost around 4.50 francs at today’s price – along with a 1 gram gold coin costing around 45 francs. Switzerland has long been a “golden country”, and its national bank (SNB) owns 1040 tons of the precious metal, a gold reserve currently valued at more than 43 billion Swiss francs.Schlüer also intends to direct the launch of an initiative called “Save our Swiss Gold” towards the end of the summer. This initiative aims to forbid the selling-off of Swiss gold stocks abroad. The politician is also demanding that all Swiss gold reserves be stored within the country.