Business professor Campbell Harvey can discuss Greece’s debt crisis and the gold it holds in reserves.• Quotes: “It was just reported that Greece would default on the $1.7 billion loan repayment due to the IMF tomorrow. The default is a political decision because they are easily able to make this payment.”“Greece has 112.5 metric tons of gold in reserve. Given the current price of gold, that represents $4.2 billion.”“Remember that the $1.7 billion payment represents an already late payment of four obligations that were due earlier in June (the first of which was June 5) so there is little chance of another delay.”“There is only one reason not to use the gold -- a realization by Greece’s prime minister that leaving the Eurozone is a fait accompli in his mind. The total debt is $270 billion and the gold is but a drop in the bucket. However, there is a logic in keeping some gold in reserve when launching a new currency. According to the World Gold Council, Greece has the 32nd largest gold reserve in the world.”• Bio: Campbell Harvey is a business professor specializing in financial markets, global risk management and portfolio management at Duke's Fuqua School of Business. Professor Harvey’s research on gold is available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2078535• For additional comment, contact Harvey at: cam.harvey@duke.eduhttps://www.fuqua.duke.edu/faculty_research/faculty_directory/harvey/
