by Koos Jansen
Bullion Star
After years of gradually securing its official gold reserves (unwinding leases) the central bank of Austria claims to have completed the audits of its 224 tonnes of gold stored at the BOE. However, it refuses to publish the audit reports and the gold bar list. What could possibly be so sensitive to hide from public eyes?
After the Germans had activated a program to repatriate 150 tonnes of their official gold reserves in 2012, which was revised in 2013 to have 50 % of their gold on German soil by 2020, and the Dutch repatriated 123 tonnes in 2014, the Austrians have likely been inspired by these initiatives – if European official gold policy is not adroitly aligned among national central banks behind the scenes. In 2015 the Austrian central bank, the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB), revealed it would repatriate a significant share of its yellow metal from the UK, where they were storing 80 % (224 tonnes) of their total reserves (280 tonnes) at the Bank Of England (BOE). The Austrians decided to eventually have 50 % of their gold on own soil by 2020 – just like the Germans.