"There was an acceptance among the G7 that resources should be raised by selling gold,"
Morgan Stanley analyst Stephen Jen said the Fund held 103.4 million ounces of gold worth some $92 billion at current market prices. That was up from $23 billion just five years ago.
"The IMF is rich, if it wants to be," he wrote in a recent note to clients, issued before the G7's approval of the gold sales.