Support For Swiss Gold Initiative Falls

It could be big news for gold if the Swiss vote for their central bank to hold more gold. But this seems increasingly to be an unlikely result.

The Swiss Initiative would force the country’s central bank to increase its gold holdings but, according to a new poll released today, support for the measure is falling. Both gold and the swiss franc have fallen on the news.

The poll, conducted by gfs.bern group, demonstrates 38% of respondents favor the so-called Save Our Swiss Gold initiative, which is down from 44% in an earlier poll. 47% of respondents claimed they were against the initiative, an increase from the prior 39%.

The results come but one week-and-a-half before the November 30 vote on the initiative, which calls for the Swiss National Bank to maintain at least one-fifth of its assets in gold, forbiding it to sell its holdings and require it to repatriate gold from the UK and Canada.

The Swiss National Bank opposed the initiative, as does the Swiss government and the country’s biggest business lobby.

The SNB would need to purchase about 1,500 metric tons of gold, worth 60 billion france at current market rates.