© Sputnik/ Vitaliy Bezrukih
The German central bank accelerated the withdrawal of Germany's gold reserves from overseas repositories, president of the Bundesbank Jens Weidmann said Sunday.
According to Weidmann, the bank is working on a new concept of the gold storage adopted by Germany in 2013, according to which at least half of the total gold reserves of the country should be transferred to Frankfurt until 2020.
Weidmann said that 366 tons of gold at a total value of approximately 11.5 billion euros have been delivered to Frankfurt so far.
"Thus, there are now about 1,400 tons or 41.5% of our gold reserves here. We comply with the schedule," Deutsche Welle quoted the banker as saying.
According to him, the rest of the gold will be stored in New York and London.
Gold is an additional reserve currency for Germany. According to the Bundesbank, the German gold reserve amounts to approximately 3,400 tons and is the second largest in the world after that of the United States.
"There are suggestions Germany wants its gold because it's worried its loans to less fiscally responsible sovereigns won't be repaid. But I believe Germany is preparing in case the euro were to eventually dissolve, so it wants its gold to potentially back a new Deutsche Mark. Perhaps they, too, recognize gold's return to its role as money," Peter Krauth wrote in 2013 for Money Morning.
The gold reserve is to a certain extent a financial regulator for Europe as a whole and ensures Germany a leading role among European countries.
Why it was necessary to store the country's gold out of the country?