Gold reserves of the United Kingdom

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The gold reserve of the United Kingdom is the amount of gold kept by Bank of England as a store of value of part of the United Kingdom's wealth. Leftover from the Gold Standard which the country abandoned in 1931, it is the 17th largest central bank reserve in the world with 310.29 tonnes of gold bars. [1]

Contents

History

World War II

Prior to Britain's declaration of war in September 1939 vast amounts of gold were being shipped across the Atlantic to the United States via Montreal, Quebec, Canada to pay for weapons. After France was invaded by Nazi Germany, fear of Britain also suffering the same fate led to most of the country's gold being relocated under a secret operation known as Operation Fish. In May 1940, under the order of the UK Government; 280 tonnes of the nation's gold was transported from the Bank of England in London up to Martins' Bank in Liverpool ready to be shipped to Canada.

By the end of the war in 1945, Britain was estimated to have reserves in excess of 1772.94 tonnes, however, with incomplete records; the figure may have been higher. [2]

Brown's Bottom

In May 1999, then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown announced plans to sell off 415 tonnes of gold in order to diversify the country's reserves owing to the volatile value of gold. [3] The first series of sales amounting to 125 tonnes took place in the year 2000 across five auctions with each selling 25 tonnes. [4] By the end of 2002, UK gold reserves dropped to 355.25 tonnes while at the same time the value of gold increased dramatically leading to an estimated loss of £2,000,000,000 from the gold sold. [5]

Gold reserves

Reserves from 1950 to 2015 UK Gold Reserves 1950-2015.svg
Reserves from 1950 to 2015
UK Gold Reserves by year [2] [6]
YearTonnes+/- ChangeYearTonnes+/- Change
Jan 2017310.29Steady2.svg1972656Decrease2.svg
2016310.29Steady2.svg1971690Decrease2.svg
2015310.29Increase2.svg19701198Decrease2.svg
2014310.25Steady2.svg19691308Decrease2.svg
2013310.25Steady2.svg19681309Increase2.svg
2012310.25Steady2.svg19671146Decrease2.svg
2011310.25Steady2.svg19661725Decrease2.svg
2010310.25Steady2.svg19652012Decrease2.svg
2009310.25Decrease2.svg19641899Decrease2.svg
2008310.26Increase2.svg19632208Decrease2.svg
2007310.25Increase2.svg19622294Increase2.svg
2006310.8Decrease2.svg19612014Decrease2.svg
2005312.25Decrease2.svg19602489Increase2.svg
2004313.22Decrease2.svg19592234Decrease2.svg
2003313.87Decrease2.svg19582495Increase2.svg
2002355.25Decrease2.svg19571382Decrease2.svg
2001487.5Decrease2.svg19561576Decrease2.svg
2000588.27Decrease2.svg19551788Decrease2.svg
1999715Steady2.svg19542255Increase2.svg
1998715Increase2.svg19532011Increase2.svg
1997573Steady2.svg19521317Decrease2.svg
1996573Steady2.svg19511930Decrease2.svg
1995573Decrease2.svg19502543Increase2.svg
1994574Steady2.svg19451772.94Increase2.svg
1993574Decrease2.svg19401390.22Decrease2.svg
1992579Decrease2.svg19351464.56Increase2.svg
1991588Decrease2.svg19301080Increase2.svg
1990589Decrease2.svg19251045.53Increase2.svg
1989591Steady2.svg1920863.75Increase2.svg
1988591Steady2.svg1915584.6Increase2.svg
1987591Steady2.svg1913248.09Increase2.svg
1986591Decrease2.svg1910223.37Increase2.svg
1985592Steady2.svg1905199.21Decrease2.svg
1984592Increase2.svg1900198.47Decrease2.svg
1983591Steady2.svg1895304.67Increase2.svg
1982591Decrease2.svg1890166.25Increase2.svg
1981592Increase2.svg1885141.35Decrease2.svg
1980586Decrease2.svg1880170.6Increase2.svg
1979568Decrease2.svg1875153.8Decrease2.svg
1978710Increase2.svg1870161.11Increase2.svg
1977691Increase2.svg186593Increase2.svg
1976654Steady2.svg186077.63Increase2.svg
1975654Steady2.svg185574Decrease2.svg
1974654Increase2.svg1850104.72Increase2.svg
1973653Decrease2.svg184582Steady2.svg

See also

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References

  1. "The countries with the largest gold reserves". The Telegraph . 13 July 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  2. 1 2 Green, Timothy (November 1999). "Central Bank Gold Reserves An historical perspective since 1845" (PDF). World Gold Council . Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  3. Coyle, Diane (7 May 1999). "Britain stuns markets with plan to sell gold reserves". The Independent . Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  4. "Business: The Economy Treasury offloads gold reserves". BBC. 7 May 1999. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  5. "Chancellor's '£2 billion gold bungle'". politics.co.uk. 15 April 2007. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  6. Watt, Holly (24 March 2010). "Explain why you sold Britain's gold, Gordon Brown told". The Telegraph . Retrieved 19 May 2017.