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Words
in the News |
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INTRO
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Many
governments are queueing
up to sell off their reserves.
Mark Fisher of the BBC's Business Unit reported on how gold
now seems to be out of favour, and
Greg
Barrow looked at the South Africa gold mining industry. |
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IN
FULL
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Listen
to the report in full |
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8th July 1999
Gold sell-off and
falling prices
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1 |
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"About
one-quarter of the world’s gold is held by governments, so any
sign that they’re losing interest in it is bound to depress
the price. London is the global financial centre for trading in
gold, so now that Britain is selling it off, people are wondering
who will be next. Gold’s detractors say that it just isn’t
relevant anymore, that its ancient role as a safe way to store wealth
has been undermined by the rise of modern financial markets
in shares and currencies. But supporters of gold say it would only
take a big financial crisis in the Western world for everyone to remember
what a reliable investment gold really is, and start buying it back."
from Mark Fisher of the BBC’s Business Unit |
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WORDS
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depress
the price: cause the price to fall
Britain is selling
it off: to sell off means to sell something, often cheaply,
in order to sell quickly
detractors: noun
describing a critical person who tries to make something appear
less valuable or worthwhile
undermined: past
participle of the verb 'to undermine' - to make something less secure
or less strong
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2 |
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The South African
gold mining industry is ailing. In a country which owes much
of its economic strength to this precious metal, the dramatic fall
in world-wide gold prices has delivered a blow to the future of
tens of thousands of people employed in the mines and the families
who depend on their earnings. The industry will be keeping a
close watch on gold prices as the British government begins
the process of selling off more than half of its gold reserves.
There is also trepidation about plans by the International
Monetary Fund to sell gold to fund debt relief in the world’s
poorest countries.
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| WORDS |
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ailing:
the verb 'to ail' means to be in discomfort or pain for a long period
of time
keeping a close watch
on: monitoring closely (as common is the expression to keep
an eye on)
trepidation: a
feeling of anxiety and alarm
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Read
more on gold in BBC News Online |
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