China accumulates gold as a hedge against USD inflation, George Selgin notes

China accumulates gold as a hedge against USD inflation, George Selgin notes
China holds more U.S. assets than gold

China has been accumulating gold as a hedge against USD inflation, with the Bank of China and People’s Bank together holding trillions of U.S. assets and only a few hundred billion in gold. George Selgin stated that holding gold as a hedge does not indicate any plans to link the official currency to gold.

Selgin has previously noted that the Fed began paying interest on reserves ahead of schedule in 2008, advising caution regarding U.S. monetary policy developments (Fed started IOR payments early in 2008, George Selgin notes). He has also said that replacing reserves with Treasury securities does not reduce the overall interest burden, which is determined by what the U.S. Treasury owes (George Selgin: Interest burden on reserves tied to what U.S. Treasury owes). These remarks provide context for his recent comments on gold and reserve management.

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