Belgium Contemplates Repatriating Gold

At the end of last month the Dutch central bank announced that 122.5 tonnes of Gold had been returned to the Netherlands. Now Belgium looks set to become the second country in as many weeks to repatriate their Gold reserves.

Belgium currently owns 227 tonnes of Gold with the majority of it stored at the Bank of England. It is primarily for historic reasons that Belgium's reserves are stored in the United Kingdom as it was moved to London during World War II. However it appears that the National Bank of Belgium now believes it is time for their Gold to be returned to its rightful home.

The issue of repatriating Gold is a hot topic at the moment; last week the French Politician, Marine Le Pen, wrote a letter to the Governor of the Bank of France requesting that all French Gold be returned from overseas. Le Pen's right wing National Front party has been gaining momentum in recent months and polls suggest she may beat Francois Hollande in the next presidential election. If this happens we may see all of France's 2435 tonnes (the fifth largest holding in the world) repatriated.