View source for Chemistry:Gold reserve

{{Short description|Financial concept}}
{{for multi|the gold mining company|Gold Reserve Inc.|the 1925 Soviet film|Gold Reserves (film)}}
[[File:Us gold reserves.png|thumb|Official U.S. gold reserve since 1900]]
[[File:Gold reserve changes 1993-2014.png|thumb|Changes in Central Bank Gold Reserves by Country 1993–2014]]
[[File:Change_in_gold_reserves_10_years.jpg|thumb|Central 2005 and 2014]]

A '''gold reserve''' is the [[Chemistry:Gold|gold]] held by a national [[Finance:Central bank|central bank]], intended mainly as a guarantee to redeem promises to pay depositors, note holders (e.g. paper money), or trading peers, during the eras of the [[Chemistry:Gold standard|gold standard]], and also as a [[Finance:Store of value|store of value]], or to support the value of the national [[Finance:Currency|currency]].

The [[Organization:World Gold Council|World Gold Council]] estimates that all the gold ever mined, and that is accounted for, totalled 190,040 metric tons in 2019<ref name="gold">"[http://www.gold.org/about-gold/gold-supply/gold-mining/how-much-gold-has-been-mined How much gold has been mined?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929224149/https://www.gold.org/about-gold/gold-supply/gold-mining/how-much-gold-has-been-mined |date=2018-09-29 }}", World Gold Council</ref> but other independent estimates vary by as much as 20%.<ref>"[https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21969100 How much gold is there in the world?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212233618/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21969100 |date=2020-02-12 }}" by Ed Prior, BBC News, 30 April 2013</ref> At a price of US{{convert|1250|$/ozt|$/g|lk=on|abbr=off}}, reached on 16 August 2017, one metric ton of gold has a value of approximately $40.2 million. The total value of all gold ever mined, and that is accounted for, would exceed $7.5 trillion at that valuation and using WGC 2017 estimates.<ref group="note">One tonne is equal to approximately 32,150.75 troy ounces. Gold, silver, & other precious metals & gems are weighed by the troy ounce: 12 troy ounces = 1 troy pound (and not 16 to 1 as in the avoirdupois weight system)</ref>

==Wartime relevance==
During most of history, a nation's gold reserves were considered its key financial asset and a major prize of war. 

A typical view was expressed in a secret memorandum by the British Chief of the Imperial General Staff from October 1939, at the beginning of [[Social:World War II|World War II]]. The British Military and the British Secret Service laid out "measures to be taken in the event of an invasion of Holland and Belgium by Germany" and presented them to the War Cabinet:

{{quote|It will be for the Treasury in collaboration with the Bank of England, and the Foreign Office, to examine the possible means of getting the bullion and negotiable securities into the same place of safety. The transport of many hundreds of tons of bullion presents a difficult problem and the loading would take a long time. The ideal would of course be to have the gold transferred to this country or to the United States of America. [...] The gold reserves of Belgium and Holland amount to about £70 million and £110 million respectively. [Foot]Note: H. M. Treasury has particularly requested that this information, which is highly confidential should in no circumstances be divulged. The total weight of this bullion amounts to about 1800 tons and its evacuation would be a matter of the utmost importance would present a considerable problem if it had to be undertaken in a hurry when transport facilities were disorganized. At present this gold is believed to be stored at Brussels and The Hague respectively, neither of which is very well placed for its rapid evacuation in an emergency.<ref>Memorandum by War Cabinet Secretary E. E. Bridges from October 6, 1939, ''Secret: Holland and Belgium: Measures to be taken in the event of an invasion by Germany.'' P. 1 and 4. The National Archives (United Kingdom)</ref>}}

The Belgian government transferred  remainder to southern France. Following the outbreak of war, the gold held in France was sent to [[Place:Dakar|Dakar]], the capital of Senegal, then part of the [[Place:French colonial empire|French colonial empire]]. This was against the Belgian Government's wishes, with the Belgians having directed the French to transfer it to the United States. After the Germans occupied Belgium and France in 1940, they demanded the Belgian gold reserve held in Senegal. In 1941, Vichy French officials arranged the transport of 4,944 boxes with 198 tonnes of gold to officials of the German Reichsbank and the German Government used it to purchase commodities and munitions from neutral countries. The Banque de France fully compensated the Belgian National Bank for the loss of its gold after the war.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nbbmuseum.be/en/2010/03/belgische-goud.htm|title=Belgian gold in foreign hands|publisher=Museum of the National Bank of Belgium|date=4 March 2010|access-date=19 January 2016|archive-date=14 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191114100521/https://www.nbbmuseum.be/en/2010/03/belgische-goud.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==IMF holdings==
Since early 2011, the gold holdings of the IMF have been constant at {{convert|90.5|e6ozt|t|sigfig=4|order=flip|abbr=off}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/gold.htm |title=Gold in the IMF |publisher=International Monetary Fund |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110422120344/http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/gold.htm |archive-date=April 22, 2011 }}</ref>
<!--As of April 2009, the [[Organization:International Monetary Fund|International Monetary Fund]] (IMF) held 3,217 metric tons (103.4 million troy ounces) of gold, which had been constant for several years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/gold.htm |title=Gold in the IMF |publisher=International Monetary Fund |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831103336/http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/gold.htm |archive-date=August 31, 2009 }}</ref> In the third quarter of 2009, the IMF announced that it will sell one eighth of its holdings, a maximum of 403.3 metric tons, based on a new income model agreed upon in April 2008, and subsequently announced the sale of 200 metric tons to {{wipe|India}}, 10 metric tons to Sri Lanka,<ref name=sril>{{cite web|url=http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2009/pr09431.htm |title=Press Release: IMF Announces Sale of 10 Metric Tons of Gold to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka |publisher=Imf.org |access-date=2012-01-08}}</ref> a further  10 metric tons of gold were also sold to Bangladesh Bank in September 2010 and 2 metric tons to the Bank of Mauritius.<ref name=maur>{{cite web|url=http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2009/pr09413.htm |title=Press Release: IMF Announces Sale of 2 Metric Tons of Gold to the Bank of Mauritius |publisher=Imf.org |access-date=2012-01-08}}</ref> These gold sales were conducted in stages at prevailing market prices.-->
<!--The IMF maintains an internal book value of its gold that is far below market value. In 2000, this book value was [[Finance:Special drawing rights|SDR]] 35, or about US$47 per troy ounce. An attempt to revalue the gold reserve to today's value has met resistance for different reasons.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/nb/2000/nb0021.htm
|title=IMF completes off-market gold sales
|date=2000-04-07
}}</ref>--><!--The following needs some double checking and a reference--><!--IMF's gold is valued at $42 a troy ounce ($1,370/kg) for accounting purposes, a price that was fixed in 1971 just before the Nixon administration officially decoupled the U.S. dollar from gold and instead allowed market forces to set the value of the US dollar.-->

==Officially reported holdings==
	
The IMF regularly maintains statistics of national assets as reported by various countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imf.org/external/np/sta/ir/IRProcessWeb/colist.aspx|title=Data Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity -- Reporting Countries|access-date=2013-08-07|archive-date=2018-12-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226005618/https://www.imf.org/external/error.htm?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imf.org%2Fexternal%2Fnp%2Fsta%2Fir%2FIRProcessWeb%2Fcolist.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> This data is used by the [[Organization:World Gold Council|World Gold Council]] to periodically rank and report the gold holdings of countries and official organizations.
 	
On 17 July 2015, China announced that it increased its gold reserves by about 57 percent from 1,054 to 1,658 tonnes, while disclosing its official gold reserves for the first time in six years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pbc.gov.cn/publish/html/2015s09.htm|title=Gold & Foreign Exchange Reserves|access-date=2015-07-17|archive-date=2015-07-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721210921/http://www.pbc.gov.cn/publish/html/2015s09.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://fxdailyreport.com/major-factors-affecting-gold-prices/|title=Major Factors Affecting Gold Prices Fluctuation|date=2016-07-22|newspaper=FXdailyReport.Com|language=en-US|access-date=2016-10-28|archive-date=2016-10-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161002132403/http://fxdailyreport.com/major-factors-affecting-gold-prices/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In July 2015, the State Bank of Vietnam stated that gold reserves totalled 10 tonnes. However, it was not ranked below due to the current absence of any published data.

In 2019, the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) extended the gold allocation limit from 5% to 10%, in accordance with the amendments made to the Investment Policy of the Fund for diversification purposes.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oilfund.az/storage/images/joqajf7fm8.pdf |title=Investment policy 2020 |website=oilfund.az |date=29 December 2019 |access-date=10 January 2021 |archive-date=23 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023082700/https://www.oilfund.az/storage/images/joqajf7fm8.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> However, the Central Bank of [[Place:Azerbaijan|Azerbaijan]] does not hold any gold.
 	
The gold listed for each of the countries in the table may not be physically stored in the country listed, as central banks generally have not allowed independent [[Audit|audit]]s of their reserves. [[Chemistry:Gold leasing|Gold leasing]] by central banks could place into doubt the reported gold holdings in the table below.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sprottglobal.com/markets-at-a-glance/maag-article/?id=6590|title=- Sprott Global Resource Investments Ltd.|access-date=2014-10-09|archive-date=2014-10-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015105824/http://sprottglobal.com/markets-at-a-glance/maag-article/?id=6590|url-status=dead}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:97%;"

|+Top 50 according to World Gold Council's latest rankings (as of January 2024)<ref>{{cite web |title=World Official Gold Holdings - International Financial Statistics, January 2024 |trans-quote=Free registration required to access |url=https://www.gold.org/download/file/7739/World_official_gold_holdings_as_of_Jan2024_IFS.xlsx |website=World Gold Council |access-date=25 January 2024 |date=January 2024}}</ref>
|-
 	
! style="text-align:left" data-sort-type="number" | Rank
 	
! style="text-align:left" | Country/Organization
 	
! style="text-align:right" data-sort-type="number" | Gold holdings<br>(in metric tons)
 	
! style="text-align:right" data-sort-type="number" | Gold's share of<br>forex reserves

|--
 | 1 || {{flag|United States}} || align="right" | 8,133.5 || align="right" | 69.6%
 |-
 | 2 || {{flag|Germany}} || align="right" | 3,352.6 || align="right" | 68.7%
 |-
 | — ||[[Organization:International Monetary Fund|International Monetary Fund]] || align="right" | 2,814.0 || align="right" | —{{efn|name=BISIMFNote|BIS and IMF balance sheets do not allow this percentage to be calculated.}}
 |-
 | 3 ||{{flag|Italy}} || align="right" | 2,451.8 || align="right" | 65.5%
 |-
 | 4 ||{{flag|France}} || align="right" | 2,436.9 || align="right" | 67.1%
 |-
 | 5 || {{flag|Russia}} || align="right" | 2,332.7 || align="right" | 25.7%
 |-
 | 6 || {{flag|China}} || align="right" | 2,226.4 || align="right" | 4.3%
 |-
 | 7 || {{flag|Switzerland}} || align="right" | 1,040.0 || align="right" | 8.4%
 |-
 | 8 || {{flag|Japan}} || align="right" | 846.0 || align="right" | 4.4%
 |-
 | 9 || {{flag| India}} || align="right" | 803.6 || align="right" | 8.6%
 |-
 | 10 || {{flag|Netherlands}} || align="right" | 612.5 || align="right" | 57.9%
 |-
 | 11 || {{flag|Turkey}} || align="right" | 522.5{{efn|The figure provided is official sector gold reserves, i.e. the sum of central bank owned gold and Treasury gold holdings. This is equivalent to gross gold reserves less all gold held at the central bank in relation to commercial sector gold policies, such as the Reserve Option Mechanism (ROM), collateral, deposits, and swaps.}} || align="right" | 30.8%
 |-
 | — || [[File:Logo European Central Bank.svg|22px]] European Central Bank || align="right" | 506.5 || align="right" | 40.5%
 |-
 | 12 || {{flag|Taiwan}} || align="right" | 422.4 || align="right" | 4.7%
 |-
 | 13 || {{flag|Portugal}} || align="right" | 382.6 || align="right" | 72.9%
 |-
 | 14 || {{flag|Uzbekistan}} || align="right" | 362.0 || align="right" | 72.1%
 |-
 | 15 || {{flag|Poland}} || align="right" | 358.7 || align="right" | 12.6%
 |-
 | 16 || {{flag|Saudi Arabia}} || align="right" | 323.1 || align="right" | 4.7%
 |-
 | 17 || {{flag|United Kingdom}} || align="right" | 310.3 || align="right" | 11.6%
 |-
 | 18 || {{flag|Kazakhstan}} || align="right" | 304.3 || align="right" | 58.5%
 |-
 | 19 || {{flag|Lebanon}} || align="right" | 286.8 || align="right" | 56.5%
 |-
 | 20 || {{flag|Spain}} || align="right" | 281.6 || align="right" | 18.2%
 |-
 | 21 || {{flag|Austria}} || align="right" | 280.0 || align="right" | 59.4%
 |-
 | 22 || {{flag|Thailand}} || align="right" | 244.2 || align="right" | 7.3%
 
|-
 | 23 || {{flag|Singapore}} || align="right" | 230.3 || align="right" | 4.3%
 |-
 | 24 || {{flag|Belgium}} || align="right" | 227.4 || align="right" | 36.8%
 |-
 | 25 || {{flag|Algeria}} || align="right" | 173.6 || align="right" | 13.9%
 |-
 | 26 || {{flag|Philippines}} || align="right" | 165.6 || align="right" | 10.7%
 |-
 | 27 || {{flag|Venezuela}} || align="right" | 161.2 || align="right" | 84.5%
 |-
 | 28 || {{flag|Iraq}} || align="right" | 132.7|| align="right" | 7.9%
 |-
 | 29 || {{flag|Brazil}} || align="right" | 129.7 || align="right" | 2.4%
 |-
 | 30 || {{flag|Egypt}} || align="right" | 126.0 || align="right" | 24.6%
 |-
 | 31 || {{flag|Sweden}} || align="right" | 125.7 || align="right" | 13.9%
 |-
 | 32 || {{flag|South Africa}} || align="right" | 125.4|| align="right" | 13.3%
 |-
 | 33 || {{flag|Mexico}} || align="right" | 120.0 || align="right" | 3.7%
 |-
 | 34 || {{flag|Libya}} || align="right" | 116.6 || align="right" | 9.4%
 |-
 | 35 || {{flag|Greece}} || align="right" | 114.4 || align="right" | 55.9%
 |-
 | 36 || {{flag|South Korea}} || align="right" | 104.4 || align="right" | 1.7%
 |-
 | 37 || {{flag|Romania}} || align="right" | 103.6 || align="right" | 9.5%
 |-
 | — || [[File:BIS-logo.PNG|23px]] [[Organization:Bank for International Settlements|Bank for International Settlements]] || align="right" | 102.0{{efn|Excluding any gold held in connection with swap operations, under which the bank exchanges currencies for physical gold. The bank has an obligation to return this gold at the end of the contract.}} || align="right" | —{{efn|name=BISIMFNote}}
 |-
 | 38 || {{flag|Qatar}} || align="right" | 99.2 || align="right" | 12.7%
 |-
 | 39 || {{flag|Hungary}} || align="right" | 94.5 || align="right" | 13.8%
 |-
 | 40 || {{flag|Australia}} || align="right" | 79.8 || align="right" | 8.9%
 |-
 | 41 || {{flag|Kuwait}} || align="right" | 79.0 || align="right" | 10.3%
 |-
 | 42 || {{flag|Indonesia}} || align="right" | 78.6 || align="right" | 3.9%
 |-
 | 43 || {{flag|United Arab Emirates}} || align="right" | 74.6 || align="right" | 2.9%
 |-
 | 44 || {{flag|Denmark}} || align="right" | 66.5 || align="right" | 4.3%
 |-
 | 45 || {{flag|Pakistan}} || align="right" | 64.7 || align="right" | 32.8%
 |-
 | 46 || {{flag|Argentina}} || align="right" | 61.7 || align="right" | 18.8%
 |-
 | 47 || {{flag|Belarus}} || align="right" | 53.8 || align="right" | 42.9%
 |-
 | 48 || {{flag|Finland}} || align="right" | 49.0 || align="right" | 18.9%
 |-
 | 49 || {{flag|Jordan}} || align="right" | 43.5 || align="right" | 18.0%
 |-
 | 50 || {{flag|Bolivia}} || align="right" | 42.5 || align="right" | 87.5%
 |-
 | — || World || align="right" | 35,809.3{{efn|World total as calculated by the IMF. This will not equal the total for the countries in the table as ‘World total’ will include data for countries beyond the top 100 and for countries that do not publish their reserves. World total also captures BIS holdings inclusive of swap operations.}} || align="right" | 15.5%
 |-
 | — || Euro Area (including the ECB) || align="right" | 10,771.4 || align="right" | 59.1%
 |-
 |}
* '''Notes'''
{{notelist}}

==See also==
* Gold Reserve Inc.
* [[Chemistry:Gold as an investment|Gold as an investment]]
* Federal Reserve Bank of New York
* [[Finance:Foreign exchange reserves|Foreign exchange reserves]]
* [[Finance:Inflation hedge|Inflation hedge]]
* [[Chemistry:List of countries by gold production|List of countries by gold production]]
* [[Chemistry:Moscow gold (Spain)|Moscow gold]], the reserves of the Bank of Spain sent to the [[Place:Soviet Union|Soviet Union]] during the Spanish Civil War
* Romanian Treasure, the Romanian gold reserves sent (alongside other valuable objects) to {{wipe|Russia}} for safekeeping during [[Social:World War I|World War I]], but never returned
* [[Chemistry:Silver as an investment|Silver as an investment]]
* Strategic Petroleum Reserve (United States)
* United States Bullion Depository, often known as Fort Knox
* [[Chemistry:Vaulted gold|Vaulted gold]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group="note"}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}{{Gold reserves by country|state=expanded}}
[[Category:Gold|Reserve]]
[[Category:Gold standard|Reserve]]

{{Sourceattribution|Gold reserve}}