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“The rumour that went around the media about the withdrawal of a tonne and a half of gold from the vaults of the BCT (central bank) lacks any basis,” it said in a statement.

“The level of stocks of monetary gold, which constitutes Tunisia’s strategic stock, has not registered any variation in the past few years,” it said.

“For commercial gold, exclusively reserved to supply artisans and jewellery cooperatives, sales for the year 2010 were of the order of 177kg. No transaction of this sort was carried out in 2011,” it said.

France’s TF1 television station and Le Monde newspaper reported this week that Ben Ali’s wife had collected 1.5 tonnes in gold ingots from the central bank before they fled Tunisia on Friday amid mounting demonstrations.-AFP