At the end of September this year, the agreement of the Central Banks of Europe (a total of 21 banks), which provided for the restriction on the sale of gold from reserves, ends. As it became known recently, European Central Banks will not extend it, so as not to limit themselves formally in the sale of yellow precious metals.

It is worth recalling that the agreement of the Central Banks on Gold (CBGA) was first concluded in 1999. The Central Bank decided to limit the sale of gold from the reserves of their countries to a certain maximum volume. In 2014, this agreement was extended, but it did not establish a specific maximum amount of precious metal for sale. The text only said that "the banks that signed the agreement undertake not to sell significant volumes of gold on the open market." Although the first agreement established a volume of 400 tons per year, which the Central Banks could sell, and over the 5 years of the agreements, 2,000 tons were obtained. But for the entire duration of the agreement these limits have never been exhausted.

Last week, the ECB issued an official announcement on behalf of all the central banks that are participating in this agreement that it is no longer necessary to extend it. The agreement expires on September 26, 2019. The ECB also says that “since 1999, the world gold market has shown good development. It became more liquid, and a significant group of investors appeared on it. The price of gold over the past 20 years has increased five times. For the entire duration of the agreements, none of the Central Banks did not sell significant volumes of yellow precious metals. On the contrary, the central banks have become net buyers of gold for the reserves of their countries. ”

The parties to the agreement confirm that gold, as before, is an important component of world currency reserves. Precious metal is the best tool for their diversification. None of the Central Banks of Europe have plans to sell large volumes of gold from the reserves of their countries.

The Central European Banks of the following European countries took part in the current gold agreement: Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Cyprus.