From time to time various conspiracy theories are developed as to how many tons gold Our country officially has and where exactly it hides them. A simple wandering in the online forums and related discussions on Facebook, easily lead you to realize that everyone creates in their minds a different story about the fate of the precious metal.
But where is the truth? What exactly is happening and where are its precious gold bars registered Greece; In order to stop all this fiction we looked at the official sources, looked for reliable data and talked to people who know exactly what is happening.
Let's take them in order…
First of all, as paradoxical as it sounds to many, at the moment the value of Greece's gold is at an all-time high. Because of his pandemic coronavirus which has spread to all corners of the world and in addition to millions of dead leaves in its path and collapsed economies the big investors turn to the safest shelter in times of crisis that is nothing but gold, with the result that the price of the precious metal has skyrocketed. on high level.
Suffice it to say that many years ago, for example in early August 1999, a gram of gold cost 8,55 euros. Almost ten years later, on September 21, 2018, and after the world economy had gone through a dramatic recession (our country was still in the memoranda) the price of one gram cost 32,77 euros. After various ups and downs on November 11 last year, it was sold at 44,41 euros per gram.
A month or so ago, on March 16, 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, the price rose to 43,17 euros, while only on Holy Wednesday it jumped to 50,55 euros per gram. As a result, the price of gold bars that our country has in stock has risen just as rapidly. How much exactly is this stock?
According to the latest annual report of the Governor of the Bank of Greece, Giannis Stournara, which was published in March and relates to the previous year, the country's central financial institution had 4.830.000 ounces of gold of 31,1 grams each and not to be confused with numbers and units of measurement, its stock in simple words amounted to 150,3 tons of gold.
With a simple multiplication based on the price at which the precious metal was sold on Holy Wednesday, the value of the stock now stands at 7,6 billion euros (or for anyone who is more precise, 7.593.267.150 euros). Only on March 16 its value reached 4,545 billion euros, so within a month its value increased by 777,1 million euros! This is the good news. Let's go to the bad now.
Of the 150,3 tons, 30,65 are receivables and have been transferred to the International Monetary Fund, thus covering the share of our country's foreign exchange mix in the organization, as have the other 188 member states. Its total available IMF amount to… 2.814,1 tonnes making it the third largest holder of gold in the world. By the way let's see which are the countries with the largest gold reserves in the world.
According to the latest available data from the World Gold Council (April 2020) the ranking is as follows:
If you are wondering where our country is in the relevant list, we inform you that we are in 33rd place. It should also be noted that the central banks of most large states have not allowed independent audits of their reserves. This means that there may be other undeclared tons whose exact weight is unknown.
Return now to our house, looking for where our 150,3 tons are registered. We said that 30,65 have gone to the International Monetary Fund. Where are the other 119,65? Just as any good investor "breaks" his fortune in various places for security reasons, so Greece has not stored all the rods and gold pounds in one place, not even the whole of its fortune within borders.
Almost half of the gold reserves (47% report secure information) are in its underground treasury Bank of Greece on Panepistimiou Street which has the most modern security systems. The armored crypt is located behind a huge round steel door that can withstand even a rocket attack. Even if someone violated them, they still would not have direct access to gold.
The rest of our property has been divided into three different financial institutions abroad that are considered inaccessible. In particular, 29% of our reserves are currently in the treasury of the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States (known as the Fed), 20% have been transferred to the Bank of England and the other 4% to the Bank of Switzerland. Stocks held abroad are certified at regular intervals, in accordance with the international practice of all central banks. In recent years there has been no significant change, with the exception of the small fluctuations due to the Bank's transactions with the public for the purchase and sale of gold pounds.
The last major change was in August 2003 under Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Bank of Greece Governor Nikos Garganas, who secretly sold 20 tonnes of gold for 207m euros "in the context of more efficient portfolio management". The sale was made at 322 euros per ounce, while today it reaches 1.572 euros per ounce (one ounce corresponds to 31,1 grams).
As for its secrecy selling The Bank of Greece issued a statement on 18 September 2003 stating that "the sale of part of the upgraded quantity of gold is part of the regular cash management operations which are not disclosed in advance by the central banks, as such an action would be contrary to the practices and rules of operation of the market and would be to the detriment of the interests of the Bank. Moreover, in the view of its Legal Services adopted by the Bank of Greece, no provision of law requires such a prior announcement, nor is the specific transaction subject to the provisions of the stock market legislation that require the ex post disclosure of important corporate events and information.
The non-disclosure obligation was also confirmed by the Legal Council of the Bank of Greece, in view of which it was deemed appropriate to raise the issue, due to the disputes expressed about the way it was handled by the Bank of Greece and to remove any doubts.
In particular, the Legal Council unanimously accepted that the sale of a quantity of gold from the reserves of the Bank of Greece in order to invest the proceeds of the sale in a position that is estimated to be more profitable is a normal act of regular management ".
Finally, because a lot is heard from time to time about the way gold was saved all these years, the story is as follows: in the destroyers of the Navy "King George" and "Queen Olga", in order to be secretly transferred to the branch of the Bank of Greece in Heraklion, Crete.
Then, when the Wehrmacht forces were conquering one area after another and everyone realized that they would reach Crete as well, the governor of the central bank Kyriakos Varvaresos together with the deputy governor George Mantzavinos transferred the Greek gold to Alexodos with a new mission. and then because the port was bombed, even further, in Pretoria, South Africa.
After the end of World War II, at the end of the African continent, he would be transferred to London and then return to Athens.