More dialogue among the dollar, euro and yen countries might have produced a set of policy mixes across these countries that avoided some of the wider swings in exchange rates that we have witnessed  BIS Review 43/1999  4  during the past 25 years. We have learned much from this period, and will all work toward putting our knowledge to good use.
Let’s get back to facts and figures: I would like to remind you that our gold reserves are part of the German currency reserves. These were accumulated over time thanks, in part, to Germany’s economic boom in the 1950s and 1960s. Germany’s growing economic strength, especially its strong external position, resulted in rather large trade account surpluses, most of them acquired in US dollars.