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What was the last country to give up the Gold standard?

Question #101946. Asked by author.
Last updated Sep 01 2016.

avatar
zbeckabee star
Answer has 4 votes
zbeckabee star
Moderator
18 year member
11752 replies avatar

Answer has 4 votes.
I'm finding Switzerland in 1999 -- Though, the mention is stating "one of the last."

In 1933 the US abandoned the Gold standard along with many other nations, such as Italy in '34, Belgium in '35 and others during the 1930s. Switzerland was one of the last countries to drop the gold standard and this was done in 1999 by the approval of a new constitution that eliminated the traditional requirement for the country's currency to be backed by gold.

link http://goldprice.org/buying-gold/2007_12_01_archive.html

Dec 27 2008, 6:32 PM
author
Answer has 3 votes
author
22 year member
2834 replies

Answer has 3 votes.

Dec 28 2008, 11:17 AM
queproblema
Answer has 4 votes
queproblema
18 year member
2119 replies

Answer has 4 votes.
The gold standard effectively came to an end in 1933 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlawed private gold ownership (except for the purposes of jewelery). The Bretton Woods System, enacted in 1946 created a system of fixed exchange rates that allowed governments to sell their gold to the United States treasury at the price of $35/ounce. "The Bretton Woods system ended on August 15, 1971, when President Richard Nixon ended trading of gold at the fixed price of $35/ounce. At that point for the first time in history, formal links between the major world currencies and real commodities were severed". The gold standard has not been used in any major economy since that time.

Copied and pasted from
link http://economics.about.com/cs/money/a/gold_standard.htm

Last one, as cited above by Zb, was Switzerland.
"April 19, 1999

Swiss voters approved a new Constitution today that eliminates the traditional requirement for the country's currency to be backed by gold."
link http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E4DA1E3BF93AA25757C0A96F958260

Response last updated by Terry on Aug 25 2016.
Dec 28 2008, 6:47 PM
queproblema
Answer has 4 votes
queproblema
18 year member
2119 replies

Answer has 4 votes.
So would I.

Many sites give the same information, though.

Apparently Switzerland, as the international banker, was the sole exception to the rule. The Bank for International Settlements was headquartered in Basel after the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919, and the "gold franc," based on the Swiss franc, was its standard unit of currency.

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_for_International_Settlements#History_of_the_Bank

link http://www.bis.org/about/history.htm

link http://www.bis.org/press/p030311d.htm

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_franc

Response last updated by Terry on Aug 25 2016.
Dec 28 2008, 11:08 PM
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Terry star
Answer has 6 votes
Currently Best Answer
Terry star
Moderator
24 year member
333 replies avatar

Answer has 6 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
Seems that Switzerland is the consensus answer.

A more definitive reference from CNBC, financial media that ought to know this sort of stuff:

"Switzerland left the gold standard in 1999 and was the last country to do so."

link http://www.cnbc.com/2014/11/28/swiss-set-for-gold-vote-amid-6000-year-bubble-warning.html

Oddly enough, as of today (2016), Switzerland has been in the news for considering going back to the gold standard!

Response last updated by Terry on Sep 01 2016.
Aug 25 2016, 8:19 AM
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