Gold reserve - a reserve of gold, which is necessary to stabilize the exchange rate of the state currency. This fund is a national treasure and is controlled by the country's main bank.
From the history
Gold has attracted people since time immemorial. Yellow metal was held in high esteem by the Sumerians in ancient Egypt and the Middle East. In Russia, before the beginning of the XVIII century, gold was not mined, it was imported from abroad. The first Russian field appeared in 1732 near Arkhangelsk. Over the years, new gold veins appeared, mines opened. Today, Russia is one of the three leaders in precious metal mining, behind China and Australia. Over the entire history of mankind, more than 160 thousand tons of it have been mined, which is estimated at 9 trillion dollars. Most of the gold exists in jewelry, part of it is distributed in the electronics industry, dentistry and investment. About 30 thousand tons are contained in the central banks of the countries of the world.
For thousands of years, precious metals have been stored and used to determine how rich the state is. Now gold is just an alternative to storing currency. The World Gold Council is adjusting precious metal stock information. Switzerland and Canada are selling their reserves, while developing countries, such as Russia, are buying as much as possible. There is a table that shows a dozen states - leaders of gold holders.
US Gold Fund
For several decades, the state has been holding the leading position in the rating of the "golden" countries of the world. At the moment, the country's storage is 8133.45 tons of pure gold, which is approximately 75% of America’s foreign exchange reserve. Thanks to this, the United States is considered a world power, and the dollar is a world currency.
However, the United States gold reserve raises many questions. What is the real stock of yellow metal, how are these resources stored, and is it actually present? The availability of the precious metal fund in the United States raises more and more doubts. The case of the loss of German gold, which is stored in the States, can be considered a key factor indicating the absence of precious metal in Fort Knox. In the beginning, the American authorities did everything to postpone negotiations on the issuance of precious metals belonging to Germany. During the year, the United States paid a small portion, while they refused to let German specialists into storage.
In the bins of the United States, gold of other countries is still stored, some hold only part of their reserves, others store everything they have. Now the American state authorities are in every way obstructing the audit, and it is not possible to find out the real amount of gold in the vaults.
Germany Foundation
Germany has the largest gold fund among all European countries. The stock of precious coins in Germany is 3386 tons. More recently, German federal authorities decided to demand from France and the United States to return part of the funds. The question of where the reserves are located also remains open. Legally in the USA, but in fact
Is it true that state stock has disappeared? There is a version that America does not give back gold, because it is afraid that the Germans are going to leave the EU zone, return the brand to circulation and provide it with its own precious metal. Indeed, half of Europe has less gold reserves than Germany. Therefore, at the moment it is rather difficult to establish where the reserve of yellow metal belonging to it is located.
Reserves of the countries of Europe
Italy takes an honorable 4th place in the ranking among countries of the world and 2nd among European states. For many years, the country's gold and currency fund has been 2, 451.8 tons. Despite all the debt problems, state authorities do not think to waste their resources. France, on the contrary, actively sold gold until 2009. In the 2000s, there were more than 3, 000 tons on the account, today only 2440 tons are on the state’s account and occupies 5th place in the world in gold reserves.
Switzerland's gold reserve was previously used to secure the national currency and was sold until 2008, starting from 2590 tons. Since 2009, the amount of precious metal in the country has remained stable, and amounts to 1, 044 tons. At the moment, the state’s gold reserve takes 8th place in the world, plays the role of an important reserve of the country and is considered as part of the foreign exchange assets.
The Netherlands took the 10th place in the reserves of yellow metal among the countries of the world, today the gold and foreign exchange reserve is 612 tons. After the situation with German gold, state authorities also reported the repatriation of the precious metal from the US Federal Reserve. This decision was also explained by the desire to more balanced distribution of gold reserves.
Repositories of Japan and China.
It is quite difficult to establish how much precious metal China actually possesses, since this country is famous for its secrecy and caution. Since 2016, according to official figures, the state owns 1, 842 tons of yellow metal, in the ranking it is in 7th place. In recent years, imports of precious metal in the Celestial Empire has grown significantly, but authorities say that reserves have grown slightly. Experts say the government is clearly not telling the whole truth, and China owns a lot more gold. One can only guess how much in fact China’s gold reserves are. For many years, Japan’s gold reserve has remained unchanged at 765 tons of pure gold. According to the safety of the precious metal, the country of the Rising Sun takes 9th place.
Gold Fund of the Russian Federation.
Despite the fact that the price of bullion is growing, Russia is actively buying gold. According to the results of the second half of 2018, the Russian Federation replenished the reserve by 92 tons - a record number in the history of the state. Now in the reserve of the Russian Federation 2070 tons and 6th place in the world. The growth dynamics of the gold and foreign exchange reserve allows the government to give guarantees on the safety of the ruble in 2019 and to avoid inflation. This trend will also make the situation in the country's economy stable. The government believes that the growth of gold accumulations will entail the further development of the national precious metal mining industry. The program provides that 50 more deposits will appear in the Russian Federation and this will increase the volume of precious metal production in the next two years by 50-60%.
The bulk of the national stock is held in the Moscow Central Bank of Russia repository. The area of the "safe" is 17 thousand square meters, of which a tenth was allocated for racks for storing ingots. The weight of each 10-14 kilograms. Here, the metal is contained in almost pure form - the highest 999 samples. There are reserve facilities in the Northern capital and Yekaterinburg. The vaults are reliably protected, special control of the special services ensures properly organized access to valuables. The facilities are equipped with modern security systems. In addition, the Central Bank has 6, 000 boxes of steel, which will reliably protect ingots when ignited.
Other states
The list of countries with gold reserves does not include Canada. For the first time in eight decades, she sold her own funds, which amounted to 3.4 tons. The last ingot went on sale in 2003, coins - in 2014. The state invested the profits in the acquisition of foreign currency.
The number of powers with a reserve of gold has exceeded one hundred today. The table is closed by the Solomon Islands, Laos and Salvador.
Private reserves
The largest amount of gold reserves is held in private hands. For example, according to 2011, Indian citizens owned 18 thousand tons of yellow metal. This is ten times less than the reserve stored in Indian banks. This trend is inherent in many states of the world. Private foundations from Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States conduct active trading on world exchanges.
