 The US - not a signatory - has the world's biggest gold reserves |
Fifteen European central banks have agreed a cap on how much gold they can sell over the next five years. The deal commits the European Central Bank, and the banks of every European Union nation except the UK and Denmark, to sell only 500 tonnes a year.
The agreement extends a 1999 deal till 2009, and may help keep prices high.
Gold operates as a "safe haven" for investors in troubled times, and is particularly in demand at the moment in the face of a weak US dollar.
The 15 signatories said gold would "remain an important element of global monetary reserves".
Reserves
The biggest holder of gold in the world - the US - is not a party to the deal, which applies only to the European Union.
The UK, which signed up to the 1999 agreement, is also not included this time around, since its government has said it has no intention of selling any gold during the next five years.
 | GLOBAL GOLD RESERVES 1. USA: 8,135 tonnes 2. Germany: 3,440 tonnes 3. IMF: 3,217 tonnes 4. France 3,025 tonnes 5. Italy: 2,452 tonnes 6. Switzerland: 1,666 tonnes 7. Netherlands: 801 tonnes 8. ECB: 767 tonnes 9. Japan: 765 tonnes 10: China: 600 tonnes |
Switzerland, however, is a signatory, despite being outside the EU. But the 15 signatories include six of the countries in the top 10 of global gold reserves.
The 500-tonnes-a-year limit marks an increase of 25% from the previous 400 tonnes maximum.
Robert Pringle of the World Gold Council told the BBC's World Business Report that the new sales threshold would help stabilise the market for the yellow metal.
"This statement provides a framework for the gold market going forward. It clarifies the intentions of some very important holders of gold," he said.
Only six nations - Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland and the UK - have sold gold in the past five years, not least because of the negative publicity that selling gold can attract.
And the pace of sales is likely to be dictated largely by movements on the world's currency markets to bring in foreign currency at the best rate possible.
Nations' reserves are these days mostly used to support or weaken the country's currency, by buying it or selling it in the open market - a function for which gold is unsuited.
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