10% of Belgium’s gold reserves out on loan

The Belgian Central Bank said yesterday that about 25 tons of the its gold reserves have been lent to bullion banks according to Bloomberg, writes Goldcore’s Mark O’Byrne. Nearly 10% or about 25 metric tons of the National Bank of Belgium’s remaining 227.5 tons of gold reserves are currently lent to bullion banks, Director and Treasurer Jean Hilgers told the central bank’s annual meeting in Brussels. The proportion of gold reserves on loan declined from 84.3 tons on December 31, 2011, and averaged 48.1 tons in 2012 as loans matured and some gold loans were reimbursed early. Hilgers said that the Belgian central bank sees gold lending decreasing further this year. The National Bank of Belgium may be nervous regarding their gold loans and may be seeking their repayment early. They will be aware of the great difficulty that the Bundesbank is having repatriating their gold reserves and the bizarre fact that it will take the Federal Reserve seven years to return the German gold reserves stored in the U.S. to Germany. Belgium is one of the central banks that sold substantial amounts of their gold reserves during the 1990s – prior to the advent of the euro.  Belgium, Argentina, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and the UK were the notable gold sellers of the period.