Gold reserves plan a disaster: Swiss banking chief

Zurich

A VOTE in favour of Switzerland boosting its gold reserves would be disastrous for the country, the chairman of the Swiss central bank said in a newspaper interview published on Thursday.

The "Save our Swiss gold" proposal, spearheaded by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), aims to ban the central bank from offloading its reserves and oblige it to hold at least 20 per cent of its assets in gold. The referendum is scheduled for Nov 30. The SVP argues it would secure a stable Swiss franc.