The International Monetary Fund should sell gold worth $6.6bn (£4.4bn) and invest the proceeds in higher-yielding assets as part of a strategy to put its finances on a sound, long-term footing, an expert panel recommended yesterday.

The experts also advised that the IMF consider charging for the bilateral technical assistance it provides to countries, although they said any such charging scheme should be carefully designed to ensure poor countries continued to benefit from IMF help.