Portugal remains one of the world's countries with the most valuable gold reserves, lying in 13th place with 382.5 tonnes of the precious metal, according to data from the World Gold Council (WGC).
Portugal is in 15th position if including the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, but is ahead of the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and Spain.
Portugal has not moved in the ranking since 2014 but the value of the gold stock has shrunk by €1 billion to €12 billion, representing 68.3% of total monetary reserves in the country.
Globally, the US remains the country with the most valuable gold reserves with 8,133.5 tonnes of gold, followed by Germany with 3,381 tonnes.
Among the eurozone countries, Germany, Italy, France and Holland have gold reserves higher than in Portugal but all have been affected by a drop in gold prices.
At the end of 2014 Portugal’s gold stocks had appreciated 11.7% and were worth €1.4 billion more than at the end of 2013.
The Bank of Portugal has often been questioned as to why this valuable asset sits in its vaults, rather than being used to pay off some of the country's debts.
The central bank has not bought or sold any gold since 2006 and the sale of gold to repay Portugal's debt is banned under eurozone rules due to an agreement between European central banks.
At the end of 2012 the Bank of Portugal had €15.5 billion in gold reserves but at the end of 2015 this reserve was valued at €12 billion.
The valuations are academic as the gold cannot be sold, creating a strange anomaly with Portugal’s debt at record highs.
Comments
Maybe its worth is an an asset, albeit unsaleable, when ratings agencies assess Portugal's creditworthiness. It does seem a curious situation, perhaps the block was bought about after the Gordon Brown gold sale fiasco.