Surprise over German gold repatriation u-turn

Germany decides they don’t want their gold back after all.

At the height of Europe’s debt crisis, mistrust of the Euro led to demands for the repatriation of Germany’s $141 billion in gold bullion from New York and London back to German soil.

The repatriation process was famously slow to start and rather than a torrent of the yellow metal returning home, there was more of a trickle – leading many to speculate that Germany’s gold holdings had somehow been misappropriated.

That the bullion had never been counted was fodder for critics. A federal auditor’s report in October 2012 increased pressure on The Bundesbank and urged it to carry out an inventory check and to “physically ascertain” German’s holdings were in fact fully present and correct.

After The Bundesbank sent a delegation to the New York Fed’s vault in 2012 to make sure the cupboard wasn’t bare, gold continued to move back to Germany albeit at a much slower rate than initially timetabled.

Vocal criticism of the speed or otherwise of the repatriation process has continued unabated with many still crying foul, conspiracy theorists will perhaps never know if the gold’s there or not – because Germany has changed it’s mind.

Following a political sea change, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition have now concluded that stashing half its bullion abroad is actually fine.

Norbert Barthle, the budget spokesman for Merkel’s Christian Democratic bloc said in an interview “The Americans are taking good care of our gold… Objectively, there’s absolutely no reason for mistrust.

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