Gold reserve

The purpose of the gold reserve at the first stage was to provide the national currency with the equivalent value expressed in gold. Currently, the gold reserve is part of the gold and foreign exchange reserve, playing the role of an anti-crisis reserve and stabilization / adjustment of the national currency. In addition, since gold can be used as a means of payment at any time, large gold reserves mean greater economic independence.

The United States has the largest reserves of precious metal, followed by Germany and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) .

EU

The solid gold reserve of the Eurozone countries in June 2015 amounted to 10 790.9 tons ^[6] , which makes the euro the currency most affluent in gold. Among the EU countries outside the Eurozone, the largest gold reserves are in the UK (310.3 tons, is in the process of leaving the EU ), Sweden (125.7 tons), Romania (103.7 tons) and Poland (102.9 tons) )

USA

The foundations of the modern US gold reserve were laid in the midst of the Great Depression . In 1933, Decree No. 6102 on the nationalization of gold was issued, according to which all individuals and legal entities had to donate all their gold to the state at a fixed price of $ 20.66 per troy ounce . After the collection of gold was completed, its official price was raised to $ 35 per troy ounce.

During World War II, American gold reserves reached their maximum - 20,205 tons (more than 500 rail cars). During the years of the Bretton Woods system, the United States actively used gold to stabilize the dollar, which reduced their gold reserve by 2.5 times - up to 8133.5 tons.

Fort Knox in Kentucky (4,500 tons), the American Mint in Denver (1,400 tons), West Point (1,700 tons) and the basements of the Federal Reserve Bank in Manhattan (400 tons) are used as storage facilities. It is believed that the last full audit of the reserve was conducted in 1953 ^[7] ; however, analysis of the official report on this audit shows that it was far from complete: after all, only 13.6% of Fort Knox gold was examined and counted in the audit process, and only 26 ingots were checked for cleanliness ^[8] . For the first time in a long time, a comprehensive audit of the Fed (and, in particular, the US gold reserve) promises, after the inauguration, to be elected in 2017 by US President Donald Trump ^[9] , who believes that there is really no gold in the vaults and calls for the return of gold standard ^[10] . His interest in gold as a means of payment has a long history: for example, back in 2011, he organized a payment system for renting his Manhattan skyscraper not in dollars but in gold ^[11] .

In addition to its gold, gold reserves of some 60 other states are partially or fully stored in the United States. The volume of these reserves is not published in the press. Basically, this gold (about 7000 tons) is located in the underground storage of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York . The United States avoids a real audit of these and its reserves, which is the source of various theories ^[12] . Recently, the volume of gold stored in the USA has been gradually decreasing ^{[13] [14]} . In 2017, Turkey completed the export of its gold from the United States; 220 tons were returned ^[15] .

Germany

After the Second World War, in the wake of the “ economic miracle ” in 1951 ^[16] , Germany set about creating its own gold reserve. In 1968, stocks peaked at 4,000 tons ^[17] .

In 2013, German gold reserves amounted to 3391 tons, which at a market value corresponded to approximately 140 billion euros. This gold was bought on the exchanges of New York, London and Paris, and remained in storage there. Of this, in March 2013, 1536 tons (≈45%) were stored in the US Federal Reserve , 450 tons (≈13%) in the Bank of England in London, and 374 tons (≈11%) in the Bank of France in Paris ^{[ 18]} . The remaining 1036 tons (≈31%) are stored by the Germans in their own country. For the storage of gold, the Bank of England charges an annual fee of 500 thousand euros. Storage in the USA and France is free of charge ^[19] .

In 2013, the German Central Bank launched the procedure for the export of gold from foreign vaults. As a result, 111 tons of gold were returned to Germany from the USA, and another 105 tons were received back from France. At the end of 2016, 47.9% of German-owned gold was already in storage at Frankfurt am Main, 36.6% continued to remain in New York, 12.8% in London and 2.7% in Paris. ^[20]

According to a DW news agency, in 2016, 8672 tons of gold were privately owned by German residents ^[21] .

About 5 tons of gold per year, the German Mint spends on the minting of coins with their subsequent sale ^[22] . Other operations with him are not conducted.

Germany, like many other European countries, has signed the “ Agreement of Central Banks for Gold ” and at the moment, according to the fourth version of the STBZ, it undertakes not to sell significant volumes of this metal.

France

In 1944, France, like many other countries, signed the Bretton Woods Accords . Currency exchange rates have been stabilized, the dollar is tightly tied to gold. Post-war Europe was recovering, trade was growing. In 1950-1960, Europe even experienced an " economic miracle ."

But over time, the balance began to break. In particular, the dominant position of the US dollar in international settlements and the lack of a balance of payments adjustment mechanism have led to disagreement. The European economy overtook the US economy, the dollar reserves of European countries grew rapidly, while national currencies, including the franc, were destabilized.

One of the few who spoke in the 1960s about the viciousness of manipulating the price of gold and maintaining a fixed dollar exchange rate was the prominent economist and adviser to Charles de Gaulle, Jacques Rufe . It was under his influence that General de Gaulle decided to exchange dollar reserves for gold. The share of France’s gold reserves in its gold and foreign exchange reserves was increased from 73% in 1964 to 86% by the summer of 1966 ^[23] . In 1965 alone, France exchanged $ 874 million for gold ^[23] . In August 1965, according to the Bank of France, the gold reserve of the country, the first of the European countries, reached 4,400 tons. Moreover, unlike many other countries, France during the exchange insisted that the gold bars would not be stored in the basements of the Federal Bank of New York , but would be exported from the United States.

China

In July 2015, the People’s Bank of China , for the first time since 2009, published data on its gold reserve. According to information at the end of June 2015, it amounted to 1,658 tons of gold. Thus, over the past five years, China's reserves have grown by 57% - from 1,054 tons in May 2009 ^{[24] [25]} .

In recent years, China has pursued a policy of massive buying up gold. So, in 2013, he acquired 622 tons, becoming the largest consumer of gold in the world ^[26] .

Since 2007, China has taken first place in the world in gold production (2007 - 280 tons, 2008 - 292 tons ^[27] , 2013 - 430 tons ^[28] ), and trading volumes on the Shanghai Gold Exchange have grown from 1139 tons in 2012 to 2197 tons in 2013. Based on the available data, some experts estimate the gold reserves of China at more than 2700 tons ^[26] .

Taiwan's officially reported gold reserve (China considers Taiwan an integral part of its territory) is the 12th largest among all countries and amounts to 423.6 tons.

Russia

According to the results of the second quarter of 2014, Russia took the sixth place in the world (and 5th place among countries) in terms of officially declared gold reserves in reserves; however, in 2015, after China announced new data on its reserves (see above), it returned to the seventh (and 6th among countries).

According to the results of 2014, Russia took the second place in the world in gold mining (after China) ^[29] .

The physical volume of gold in the international reserves of Russia has steadily increased in recent years: on January 1, 2007, gold reserves amounted to 402 tons, and on January 1, 2014 they amounted to more than 1035 tons ^[30] . Since 2014, the Bank of Russia has accelerated the buildup of gold reserves for geopolitical reasons in order to secure reserves in case of the introduction of the next Western sanctions, including restrictions on settlements in dollars. In total for 2014–2018, he purchased 1,076 tons, including 274 tons in 2018 ^[31] .

In early 2018, Russia came in fifth in the world in officially declared reserves of gold in reserves, overtaking China. However, it is noted that China has not provided data on gold purchases since October 2016 ^[32] . Given the current pace of procurement, Russia in three years may take third place among the largest gold holders ^[33] .

Two-thirds of Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves are stored in the Central Bank of Russia in Moscow. ^[34]

According to Bloomberg, Russia's gold reserves by September 2018 reached 2,170 tons; The total value of Russian monetary gold has reached 77.5 billion dollars. By August 1, 2019, Russia's officially declared gold reserve amounted to 71.3 million ounces (2,217.68 tons) ^[35] . For the first quarter of 2019, Russia acquired a record amount of gold - 55.3 tons. Thus, by May 2019, the volume of reserves reached 2168.3 tons of yellow metal ^[5] .

Canada

For the first time in 80 years, Canada completely sold its gold reserve, which in the 2000s amounted to about 3.4 tons ^[36] . According to Bloomberg, Canadian gold reserves peaked at one thousand tons in 1965, when the country held about $ 1.15 billion in bullion and coins. In the 1980s, authorities began to sell gold and invest in foreign currency. Canada sold the last gold bar in December 2003, and high-quality coins in January 2014. By the end of 2015, the country's gold reserve was reduced to several tons, and by March 2016 there were no gold reserves ^[37] .

Below are the largest gold reserves in tons according to the World Gold Council . Despite the fact that the United States owns the largest reserves among individual countries, the total gold reserves of the European Union are greater than the total reserves of the United States.

This list does not include gold reserves.   Iran, whose various estimates for 2012-2013 ranged from 340 to more than 900 tons. At the same time, Iran is actively using gold for settlements in international trade against the background of the sanctions imposed against it ^{[42] [43]} . How much gold Iran has at the moment is unknown.

Also not included   Uzbekistan (the table above shows), whose gold reserves in international reserves as of August 1, 2019 amounted to $ 15,080.0 million, and in millions of pure troy ounces - 10.5 or 326.5 tons, data from the Central Bank show ^{[44 ]} .

The largest gold reserves are privately owned. For example, in December 2011, Indian citizens owned 18,000 tons of gold, despite the fact that the state gold reserve was ten times smaller. ^[45]

Below is a table of private gold funds trading on exchanges.

• Foreign exchange reserves
• Sovereign fund
• Gold reserve of the Russian Empire
• Gold Reserve of the Romanian Kingdom
• Federal Reserve Bank of New York
• US Strategic Oil Reserve