Serbia Has Decided To Reclaim All Its Gold
4- 24.07.2025, 19:58
- 9,814
Belgrade wants to move home gold reserves worth about $6 billion.
Serbia's central bank has decided to move all of its gold reserves worth about $6 billion back home, Bloomberg reports. The republic will thus become the first country in Eastern Europe not to store its gold bars abroad, the agency noted.
"By bringing gold back to the country, the Halyk Bank of Serbia aims to improve the availability and safety of gold reserves in times of crisis and uncertainty," the regulator said. It added that efforts to repatriate Serbia's gold reserves began in 2021 "amid increased global uncertainty."
From 2019 to 2024, Serbia bought 17 tons of gold abroad, with at least 19 tons stored with the local unit of Zijin Mining Group Co. That brings the republic's total reserves to 50.5 tons, all stored in Belgrade, except for 5 tons bought last year - that amount of gold is still in Switzerland. At current spot gold prices, it is valued at about $6 billion, Bloomberg reported.
The remaining volume of gold will be returned to Serbia "as soon as possible," Central Bank Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic said last week. The central bank stressed that it weighed the pros and cons before deciding on the repatriation.
The proportion of the region's gold stockpile held at home is estimated to range from about 25% in Poland to 86% in Hungary.
A significant portion of the world's gold reserves is held at the Bank of England in London, the world's precious metals trading center. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York also stores gold for other countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, Bloomberg notes.
Calls to return the gold reserve in the spring were also heard in Germany.
The FRG has the second largest gold reserve in the world after the U.S. - 3,375 tons, or 270,000 bars of 12.5 kg each. The country's reserves are estimated at about €280 billion, the ZDF television channel noted in March. More than a third of gold bars worth €100 billion are currently stored in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is discussing the possibility of withdrawing gold reserves from the United States due to fears that Washington is no longer a reliable partner due to the unpredictable policies of Donald Trump. This was mentioned in particular by CDU member Marco Vanderwitz. He had already tried to get the opportunity to visit the gold reserves and personally inspect them, but his request was rejected in 2012. We are talking about 1,200 tons of German gold stored in the United States.
"In the person of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, we have a reliable and trustworthy partner to store our reserves," the Bundesbank told Reuters in May.
The Financial Times also wrote in June about calls for Germany and Italy to take gold reserves totaling $245 billion stored in the United States to Europe amid "geopolitical instability" and Trump's criticism of U.S. Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell.
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