Franklin Templeton Money Manager: We Will See a Gold Backed Asian Currency
'Boom Bust'
"Boom Bust" emails:
I just read your post about Philippa Malmgren saying the Chinese may back their currency with gold. Funny thing, but two days ago I had the opportunity to briefly talk to Dr. Mark Mobius from Franklin Templeton Investments (I assume you know who he is - a well traveled portfolio manager with insights into emerging and frontier markets.) During a presentation he mentioned that people in Asia had been buying gold like crazy after the gold price fell in April. He said dealers in India were sold out. One of his colleagues from Turkey said people in Turkey had been buying massive amounts of gold coins as well, at big premiums to the spot price (i.e. suggesting a decoupling of the price of physical gold from the spot price on Comex.)
The most interesting part, and linked to your post and Malmgren's statement about the Chinese backing their currency with gold, was when I asked Mr. Mobius after the presentation: "Do you believe we will see an Asian nation back their currency with gold?" His answer: "Yes, of course." When as a follow up question I asked "Do you think we'll see a return to the gold standard?", his answer was "Yes, we should."
Mobius knows much about economies in Asia. Seems like he and Malmgren are of the same opinion on this issue.
You can read (by using the built in Google translate function on my blog) about this at this blogpost I wrote: http://theboombust.blogspot.no/2013/06/mark-mobius-om-gullstandarden.html
Best regards,
"Boom Bust"
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2013/06/franklin-templeton-money-manager-we.html?