On Sunday 30th November the Swiss people will go to the polls to vote on the "Save Our Swiss Gold" initiative. This movement was started by Parliamentarians Luzi Stamm, Lukas Reimann and Ulrich Schlüer and calls for the following changes to the constitution:
- The Swiss National Bank (SNB) would be required to keep at least 20% of its assets in gold.
- The SNB would be banned from selling any of its gold holdings in the future.
- All Swiss gold that is currently held abroad would be repatriated.
Mr Reimann makes a compelling case for Switzerland to vote 'Yes' in the following video:
Unfortunately for the Swiss People's Party politician, support for the initiative appears to be wavering with the most recent polls suggesting just 38% of voters planned to back it in the referendum.
Understandably, the Swiss National Bank are firmly against the "Save our Swiss Gold" as it limits their options for propping up the economy in times of uncertainty. As such the SNB has embarked on an aggressive PR campaign to discredit the motion which appears to be succeeding.
Whichever way Switzerland decides to vote on Sunday, there is likely to be a knock-on effect on the price of precious metals on Monday morning. A 'No' vote may trigger a drop in the Gold price, while a 'Yes' vote is likely to lead to an increase as the markets establish how the SNB will finance the purchase of 1500 tonnes of Gold over the next three years.
