Tuesday, January 24, 2012

International Gold Standard Era begins (again) - India-Iran gold for oil trade agreement

India (and reportedly soon, China) will be buying Iranian oil with gold. I would expect Russian to join them as well. This truly marks the beginning of the new international gold standard.

Of course, that is assuming Iran isn't destroyed by US-Anglo-Israeli weapons in the next 6 months....

It is interesting to note that the latest EU sanctions on Iran prohibit EU contries from selling gold or other precious metals to Iran, either. In other words, it specifically closes down the possibility of trading on the gold standard with Iran to avoid the central bank clearing prohibition. (see: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/223260.html)

As reported on the PressTV website:

'India to buy Iran oil in gold not dollars'

India has agreed to pay the price of crude oil it imports from Iran in gold, which makes it the first country to drop the US dollar for purchasing the Iranian oil.

According to a report published by DEBKAfile news website, unnamed sources have stressed that China is also expected to follow suit.

India and China take about one million barrels per day (bpd), or 40 percent of Iran's total exports of 2.5 million bpd and both of them have huge reserves of gold.

The report added that by trading in gold, New Delhi and Beijing enable Tehran to bypass the upcoming freeze on its Central Bank's assets and the oil embargo which the European Union's foreign ministers agreed to impose on Monday, January 23. The EU currently buys around 20 percent of Iran's oil exports.

On the other hand, experts say the vast sums involved in these transactions are expected to boost the price of gold and depress the value of the dollar on world markets.

“An Indian delegation visited Tehran last week to discuss payment options in view of the new sanctions. The two sides were reported to have agreed that payment for the oil purchased would be partly in yen and partly in rupees. The switch to gold was kept [in the] dark,” the report stated.

India is Iran's second largest customer after China, and purchases around USD 12-billion-a-year worth of Iranian crude, or about 12 percent of its consumption. Delhi is to execute its transactions, the report said, through two state-owned banks: the Calcutta-based UCO Bank, whose board of directors is made up of the Indian government, the Reserve Bank of India representatives, and Halk Bankasi (Peoples Bank) -- Turkey's seventh largest bank which is owned by the government.



http://www.presstv.ir/detail/222857.html

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