CHARTVIEW: GOLD WITH AN ATTITUDE.

In July 1998 the World Gold Council commissioned a series of in-depth public opinion surveys in France, Germany and Italy. Then in the spring of 1999, opinion surveys were fielded in the United States and Great Britain. In each country, the research objectives were to measure public attitudes

                               United States
                   At little more than half of the U.S.
                  reserves that support the dollar are in
                    the form of gold. Do you think the
                    United States should maintain this
                    level of gold reserves, increase or
                               decreases it?
Increase 38%
Maintain 47%
Decrease  5%
                   Which of the following reserve assets
                   do you think should be more important
                    in backing the dollar: reserves of
                  foreign currencies or reserves of gold?
Foreign currencies 10%
Gold               67%
Mix                 8%
                   The 8% of participants that answered
                    "mix" were asked, should the mix be
                   mostly foreign currrencies or mostly
                                   gold?
Foreign currencies  8%
Gold               54%
Even               30%
                              United Kingdom
                   About 17% of the reserve assets that
                  Britain currently holds to support the
                   pound are held in gold. Do you think
                   the governmental should maintain this
                  level of gold reserves, increase it or
                               decrease it?
Increase 24%
Maintain 46%
Decrease 10%
                  The government recently announced plans
                 to sell over half the gold reserves that
                   support the pound. Do you approve or
                         disapprove of this plan?
      Approve           Disapprove
(strongly/somewhat) (strongly/somewhat)
     21% (7/14)          54% (32/22)
                   Do you think Britain should join the
                  European Monetary Union and replace the
                     pound with euros as its currency?
Yes 29%
No  57%
                         France, Germany and Italy
                   Of the reserve holdings that support
                  your country's currency, nearly 50% in
                 France, more than 31% in Germany and 31%
                  in Italy consists of Gold. Do you think
                  your country should maintain this level
                  of gold reserves, increase or decrease
                                    it?
        Increase Maintain Decrease
France    23%      67%       8%
Germany   18%      62%       9%
Italy     53%      32%       6%
                   Which of the following reserve assets
                      do you think should be the most
                     important in supporting the euro:
                        gold, U.S. dollars, a mix?
        Gold Dollars Mix
France  40%    10%   48%
Germany 36%     9%   40%
Italy   38%    19%   33%
                 The reserves supporting the U.S. dollars
                   are made up of 57% gold. Would you be
                   more confident in the euro's ability
                  to compete as an international currency
                     if it were supported by the same
                                percentage?
        Yes No
France  75% 22%
Germany 51% 28%
Italy   74% 13%

Note: In each country a sample of 1,000 respondents were interviewed by telephone. All figures in the table are percentages. The margin of error was plus/minus 2.5%