Sunday, September 21, 2003

The gold dinars mentioned in the post below are sold by the Royal Mint of Malaysia, but at present they aren't listed on the mint's web site. 8:29:50 PM    comment () Launch Of Malaysian Gold Dinars Pave Way ForTheir Role As A Bilateral Trading Currency. The long promised Malaysian gold dinar is going to be launched in August. It can then be bought by the public in two sizes, the dinar and the quarter dinar, at prices of M$181 and M$51 which is equivalent to around £8 and £30 each. Later on half dinar, 2 dinar and 4 dinar coins will be made available. Great for collectors and investors, it is worth noting that the larger the coin the better leverage to the gold price as the premium is going to be only M$10 which is just under £2, whatever the value of the coin. In fact these coins are not envisaged as a currency at this stage, though the chairman of the Malaysian Islamic Chamber of Commerce in Kuala Lumpur, Tan Sri Elyas Omar, told an International Convention on the Gold Dinar last month that he believed it could be used as an instrument for international trade. He claimed that the gold dinar in such a role would benefit third world countries."When international trade is stable and export rates stabilise, the third world countries, especially those in the Asean region, could gain from this stability." He also said that the gold dinar could be used as a commodity and a currency exchange system against the backdrop of the current world crisis and the unstable commodity prices. Tan Sri Elyas Omar went on to claim that it could also help the economic development of third world countries including Islamic countries worldwide. This is the key to the interest now being shown by a number of countries in the idea of an Islamic gold dinar. Many resent their dependence on the dollar and all that it represents in terms of third world debt, US trade protectionism and military aggression. [Minesite] 5:05:10 PM    comment () Riverbend has some comments on the recent assassination attempt against a member of the Iraqi puppet government. Unsurprisingly, her comments contain more useful information than the AP story. 3:18:44 PM    comment ()

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