Deutsche Bundesbank’s new storage plan for Germany’s gold reserves
By 2020, the Bundesbank intends to store half of Germany’s gold reserves in its own vaults in Germany. The other half will remain in storage at its partner central banks in New York and London. With this new storage plan, the Bundesbank is focusing on the two primary functions of the gold reserves: to build trust and confidence domestically, and the ability to exchange gold for foreign currencies at gold trading centres abroad within a short space of time.
The following table shows the current and the envisaged future allocation of Germany’s gold reserves across the various storage locations:
31 December 2012 | 31 December 2020 | |
---|---|---|
Frankfurt am Main | 31 % | 50 % |
New York | 45 % | 37 % |
London | 13 % | 13 % |
Paris | 11 % | 0 % |
To this end, the Bundesbank is planning a phased relocation of 300 tonnes of gold from New York to Frankfurt as well as an additional 374 tonnes from Paris to Frankfurt by 2020.
The withdrawal of the reserves from the storage location in Paris reflects the change in the framework conditions since the introduction of the euro. Given that France, like Germany, also has the euro as its national currency, the Bundesbank is no longer dependent on Paris as a financial centre in which to exchange gold for an international reserve currency should the need arise. As capacity has now become available in the Bundesbank’s own vaults in Germany, the gold stocks can now be relocated from Paris to Frankfurt.
So... the French are the only ones who still actually have the gold? ;-P
ReplyDeleteYou'd think if anyone understood that governments are nothing but a collection of crooks, it would be another set of government crooks. Why would any nation trust another nation with its gold?
ReplyDeleteI have to believe there must be secret agreements in place that prevent full repatriation. To accept that Germany would even partially trust Washington or Paris doesn't pass the smell test. The Germans can't possibly be that naive, can they?
I wonder if this has anything to do with a contingency plan for reestablishing the DM when the EUR fails.
ReplyDeleteWhy all this fuss about a barbaric relic?
ReplyDelete