Foreign central banks want their gold back and they are pulling it out of Federal Reserve bank vaults.
According to a recent Federal Reserve report on its foreign official assets, physical gold holdings fell 9.6 tons last month to 5,950 tons. Total foreign physical gold held by the Fed now sits at just over $8 billion, down more than $67 million since January. If that figure sounds low to you, it is. Since 1973, the Fed has valued its gold based upon a statutory $42.22 price per ounce.
Federal Reserve foreign gold holdings dropped every month this year except June, when they held steady. Put in broader perspective, foreign central banks have withdrawn 192 tons of gold over the past year, and 246 tons since the January 2014.
This reflects a continuing trend of foreign gold repatriation.
In early 2013, the German central bank (Bundesbank) announced it would begin the process of repatriating massive amounts of its physical gold reserves back into the country. The Bundesbank repatriated 120 metric tons of gold in 2014. In the fall of that same year, the Netherlands followed suit, taking delivery of some of its physical gold holdings from the New York Federal Reserve Bank. The Dutch central bank increased its domestic holdings of physical bullion from 11% of total gold reserves to 31%.
Last May, Austria became the most recent country to announce plans to repatriate gold. According to the Guardian, the Austrian National Bank plans to bring home to 80% of its entire gold stock – “after auditors warned against the risks of keeping a majority in a foreign country.” The bank will fly gold bars back to Vienna over the next five years, raising its in-country stocks to 140 tons.
Even the state of Texas wants to bring its gold home. A bill signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in June creates a state gold depository and sets the stage to repatriate $1 billion of gold back into the state.
In the midst of uncertain currency wars, countries want to bring this essential reserve asset back home in case of financial emergencies. Some analysts also see it as a sign of distrust of the Fed, and an indication that the Federal Reserve may not hold as much bullion as it claims. The continued exodus of gold from the Fed’s vaults seems to support this analysis.
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