British gold sales will hit prices for months to come, damaging market sentiment and hurting some of the indebted poor countries London wants to help via IMF gold sales, the World Gold Council said yesterday. Plans for International Monetary Fund gold sales of up to 10 million troy ounces have won growing support in recent weeks, with Mr Brown, the British Chancellor, a vocal supporter of the debt-relief initiative. The Treasury said it intended to sell 125 tonnes of gold in fiscal 1999/2000 and to reduce its gold holdings over the medium term to 300 tonnes from 715 tonnes.

"The drop in the price of gold on Friday as a result of the UK Treasury's announcement immediately wiped off $150 million from the annual export earnings of Sub-Saharan Africa," the WGC said.