Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he will move forward with a proposal to repatriate as much as $11 billion of gold reserves held in the U.S. and Europe as part of a plan to shift assets away from American institutions. Venezuela will transfer 99 tons of gold from the Bank of England to the South American country’s central bank, Chavez said today on state television. Venezuela also has gold at JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc, Standard Chartered Plc and the Bank of Nova Scotia, he said. “It’s a healthy decision to bring the gold back to Venezuela,” Chavez said. Chavez, who has said he wants to eliminate the “dictatorship” of the U.S. dollar, has called on Venezuela’s central bank to diversify its $28.7 billion in reserves away from U.S. institutions. Cash reserves will be shifted into currencies from emerging markets including China, Russia, Brazil and India, Central bank President Nelson Merentes said today at a press conference. To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Cancel in Caracas at dcancel@bloomberg.net; Corina Pons in Caracas at crpons@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net

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