OFFICIAL SECTOR
The sector of the gold market made up of the Central Banking Community and other governmental bodies that cumulatively account for some 35,000 tonnes of above-ground gold stocks.
OPEN MARKET OPERATIONS
Activities by which the Securities department of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York – popularly called the Desk – carries out instructions of the FOMC designed to regulate the money supply. Such operations involve the purchase and sale of government securities, which effectively expands or contracts funds in the banking system. This, in turn, alters bank reserves, causing a multiplier effect on the supply of credit, and, therefore on economic activity generally. Open Market Operations represent one of three ways the Federal Reserve implements monetary policy, the other ways being changes in the member banks reserve requirements and raising or lowering the Discount Rate charged to banks borrowing from the Fed to maintain reserves.
