Belgium Investigating To Repatriate All Gold Reserves – Update: Dec 8, 2014 (Videos)

Gold-bars

Belgium Investigating To Repatriate All Gold Reserves (Bullion Star, Dec 5, 2014):

Just after I reported on the repatriation of 122.5 tonnes of gold by The Netherlands from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) and about the Eurosystem allocating as much of its gold reserves as possible – a global run on gold which can only be seen in advance of a reform of the international monetary system, the next Eurosystem member has come forward, Belgium.

In Europe so far; Germany has been repatriating gold since 2012 from the US and France, The Netherlands has repatriated 122.5 tonnes a few weeks ago from the US, soon after Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National party of France, penned an open letter to Christian Noyer, governor of the Bank of France, requesting that the country’s gold holdings be repatriated back to France, and now Belgium is making a move. Who’s next? And why are all these countries seemingly so nervous to get their gold ASAP on own soil?

VTM-nieuws has just reported the Belgium central bank has confirmed it’s investigating to repatriate all its gold reserves.

Our country is investigating to repatriate all gold reserves. The Belgium central bank has confirmed this to VTM-nieuws.

UPDATE December 8:

Moments ago I called the Belgium central bank. The press department stated they couldn’t tell me anything more than the Governor of the Belgium central bank (NBB), Luc Coene, told VTM-nieuws. I found the full item from VTM-nieuws (make sure captions are on).

Presenter: …stored abroad, in specialized strongly secured banks. The lion share is stored in London at the Bank Of England, however, the Belgium central bank is now investigating how that gold can be repatriated.

Luc Coene: If one feels that in surrounding countries these decisions are taken, one knows that this question will be asked to us as well. So we’re pro-active investigating all the elements, so when the question will be asked, we can answer it.

Presenter: The Netherlands repatriated in utmost secrecy a part of their gold reserves a few weeks ago, Germany did the same to take away the uncertainty about the gold. At the end of the nineties Belgium sold 1,000 tonnes of gold the pay of debt. Now our country owns 227 tonnes. To ship this back home is not a simple task.

Luc Coene: The practical problem is the transport of the gold, with all the risk that come with it. Second, if we repatriate we need to setup a large security system in Belgium. Though currently this is done by certain central banks that are specialized in this.

Presenter: In the end, if the gold will be repatriated is a decision that has to be taken by the government.

“If one feels that in surrounding countries these decisions are taken, one knows that this question will be asked to us as well.” This statement by Coene tells me the repatriation virus is spreading in Northern Europe, it’s not a matter of IF Belgium will repatriate, but WHEN. Remember, in 2012 the Governor of the Dutch central bank said he wasn’t planning to repatriate the Dutch gold and that all gold was safe in New York, though shortly after this statement he started the repatriation process (as demonstrated in this post). The fact Coene clearly states he’s investigating the repatriation process will very likely ensue in shipping home the Belgian gold.

Additionally, I don’t think many central bank members of the Eurosystem operate in isolation. Not so long ago we learned the Eurosystem is disclosing the ratio of allocated versus unallocated gold reserves and  is decreasing the amount of unallocated gold. Repatriating would only be a logic next step.

The presenter of the news item says Belgium sold 1,000 tonnes of gold in the nineties to payoff debt, however, it can be Belgium sold gold for the same reason The Netherlands sold 1,100 tonnes. Which is, according to Jan Kees de Jager (former Minister of Finance of The Netherlands):

..to equalize its gold holdings relative to other important gold holding nations. 

Since 1999 all European central banks collaborated in a program called  the Central Bank Gold Agreements (CBGA), or the Washington Agreement On Gold, to jointly manage gold sales. It’s possible European central banks managed their gold sales also prior to 1999, after all the preparations for the euro started long before and all these central banks must have been on the same page ever since.

Belgium holds a large share of its reserves in the UK, a smaller part in Canada and at the BIS in Basel. Of the total 227 tonnes Belgium gold reserves, 210 tonnes are allocated and 17 tonnes are unallocated. The NBB presumably has a little less than 24 tonnes leased. From the NBB website:

At the end of May 2013 there are still gold loans outstanding with five commercial banks totalling 24.97 tonnes of gold. Taking account of the due dates, that position is expected to decline further during the 2013 financial year.

NBB just send me the official statement of Luc Coene in the VTM-nieuws item (in Dutch). Click to view.

Belgium-Gold

This is all I could find for now. This post will be updated when more news comes in.

1 thought on “Belgium Investigating To Repatriate All Gold Reserves – Update: Dec 8, 2014 (Videos)”

  1. The run on gold begins. Next, the run on banks. This indicates they know the entire economic system of the world is going to change radically……..the US status as world reserve currency is over. Technology (and Hugo Chavez and Vladimir Putin) have rendered the need for any world reserve currency obsolete.
    It is a 20th century system, and it is no longer necessary.
    The US, by its flagrant behavior of breaking all international laws, bombing countries that have done nothing to warrant it, using bullying instead of diplomacy……it has become the most despised and distrusted nation on the globe. It’s refusal to fix the crooked markets that caused the worst global depression in generations, one that caused entire nations to go bankrupt, was the final straw. The once credible, sterling and forthright markets are now run by crooks, and everyone is leaving or is in the process. If you doubt my words, look at what is really going on.
    The bond market is essentially dead. $100 trillion plus of debt in a world where the global GDP is half that amount speaks for itself. The smart guys got out of bonds years ago.
    The US stock market is being drained of all its resources. 90% of all transactions are now high frequency where a few individuals controlling huge amounts of money (at least on paper) buy and sell large amounts of securities in less time than one can blink an eye. It has been exposed more than once that these greedy guts get a heads up before the bell, so they know which way to play. The key word here is sell, and nobody is putting a cent back into the market.
    Corporate heads are buying back stock……………with borrowed money………..a final way to screw the stockholders.
    The 10% of real investors are sitting on the sidelines………
    The market manages to hold its numbers up using the high volume from high frequency trades and the buy backs……..eventually, they will stop…….and the market will crash and find its own level……..the market crashed 90% between 1929 and 1933. It won’t take that long this time.
    10% of the market is all that is real, the rest is paper pushing and number playing.

    The US dollar has been dumped by India, Japan, China, Russia, much of South America, including Brazil, Central America, Canada, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, much of African emerging nations, including South Africa, Turkey, Iran, Qatar, many middle east nations are doing business with Russia and China, and working around the dollar, they just have not said it outright yet. The US dollar is relying on the EU to stay afloat, and Germany has already told the US to stay away from Russia, and stop their crazy warmongering. It is but a matter of time before Germany joins BRICS. When that happens, and it will be soon if all this movement continues, the rest of the EU will follow suit, and the dollar will collapse. We are down to weeks or months……all this movement makes me very nervous……..Putin told the US to leave Syria alone or he would strike back……and he is doing it as he has done it for the last four plus years…….using economics, not bullets.
    BRICS is loaning money to smaller nations who don’t want to be under US domination. How many nations in the EU need loans?
    The writing is on the wall, and the US is the rogue nation, nobody likes or trusts it, for good reason. Our leaders act like maniacs, and when the idiots take over in January, it will be even worse. It will collapse.
    One good thing will come out of this, the wars will slow and stop. No war contractors like working for nothing, and as soon as they realize the dollar is about finished, they will vanish back into the woodwork……..cannot fight wars without money, and the US cannot get a single ally, let alone a coalition against Russia or anyone else.
    ISIS is CIA created to give the US an enemy to fight. Nobody real will fight with them…………….the US is isolated, and soon will be facing a collapsed currency.
    Nothing else would work, the US is run by fools.
    The idiot republicons will be even worse, openly hostile and aggressive towards the world………the US has nothing left. All the money is going east. Every stupid move from absurd sanctions to the threats to confiscate the money of Russians living abroad has done nothing but send money home. If they were trying to destroy the US, they could not do a better job.
    The root of all history is social, political and economic………..not lies, threats and throwing money at the wrong things. The US is bankrupt, and soon it will be apparent to all.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Marilyn Gjerdrum Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.