Ecuador to Lease Half its Gold Reserves to Goldman Sachs

Bloomberg is reporting that the central bank of Ecuador has entered into a lease arrangement with Goldman Sachs to lend the bank half of its gold reserves (14.5 ton) for a 3 year term. Whilst the article does not mention the interest rate that was agreed upon looking at the kitco gold lease rate chart below it would be well south of 1%.

From Bloomberg.com

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Ecuador agreed to transfer more than half its gold reserves to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for three years to give the government easier access to cash.

The central bank said it will send 466,000 ounces of gold to Goldman Sachs, worth about $580 million at current prices, and get the same amount back three years from now. In return, Ecuador will get “instruments of high security and liquidity” and expects to earn a profit of $16 million to $20 million over the term of the accord. The central bank didn’t detail additional terms of the transactions, such as any fees or financing costs paid to Goldman Sachs.

The deal comes as the South American country’s government, which defaulted on about $3.2 billion of bonds five years ago, seeks to cover a budget deficit forecast by the Finance Ministry to swell to a record $4.94 billion this year.....read more