Did Cyprus really sel its Gold?

 

Cyprus Finance Minister Sees Gold Sale Within Next Months

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-17/cyprus-central-bank-must-approve-gold-sale-finance-chief-says.html



http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-07-17/cyprus-resists-international-pressure-sell-gold-reserves


Gold Prices/Fixes/Rates/Vols - (Bloomberg)
 
Gold is lower in all major currencies today but remains well bid near the $1,300/oz level.
Physical demand, particularly from China, remains very robust and premiums high at over $30 per ounce overnight.
Physical gold delivered to buyers by China’s largest bullion bourse in the first half of this year almost matched the entire amount taken from its vaults in 2012  (see Shanghai Gold Exchange charts below), and was more than double the country’s annual production.
Breaths will be held prior to Bernanke’s testimony but as ever it will be prudent to ignore the noise and his often contradictory words and focus on actions and the reality of continuing ultra loose monetary policies.
Cyprus is resisting pressure from the European Commission (EC) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to sell its gold reserves to finance its “bailout”.
Yesterday the Cypriot Finance Minister said that a sale of its gold reserves was not the only option under consideration to pay down its debt and that other alternatives were being considered.
Cyprus has 13.9 tonnes (c. 447,000 troy ounces) of gold reserves which are worth some 436 million euros at today’s market prices.
The international bailout imposed on Cyprus involved 10 billion euro ($13 billion) and therefore the Cypriot gold reserves are worth a mere 4.36% of the bailout.

"The possibility of selling gold is known, but only as an option," Finance Minister Harris Georgiades told reporters. He did not elaborate on what the alternatives were according to Reuters.
The government in Cyprus may realise that in the event of Cyprus leaving the euro and returning to the Cypriot pound, their gold reserves could provide support to the fragile newly launched national currency.
International lenders have imposed a 10 billion euro bailout on the country, which was forced to seize bank deposits in two major banks in radical new “bail-ins” to finance the sudden “bail out” in March.