Gold mysteriously melted away

Starting with the accusations against King Zog in 1939, and until the Kërraba gold deposit theft in 1997, the stories of the Albanian National Gold Reserve have always been covered by a veil of mystery for the public.

But what quantity of gold does Albania really have? Top Channel referred to the data published by the World Council of Gold, and according to this information, by the end of 2010, Albania’s gold reserves reached 1.6 tons. Compared to 2000, this quantity was twice smaller.

Despite the fact that the gold quantity was halved, its monetary value was increased due to the hikes of gold prices in international markets. According to these data, Albanian gold currently has a value of 71.1 million dollars, from 33.2 that it was in 2000.

The National Reserve is administered by the Albanian Bank. This institution decides if the reserves will be in currency or gold. In total, Albania has 2.5 billion dollars of National Reserve. Only 2.8% of this reserve is kept in gold, and the other part is in foreign currency, Euro or Dollar.

Different countries implement different policies for the national reserve. USA keeps almost 56% of the national reserve in gold. Germany also follows the same policy, with 41% of the total reserve.

Data show that Albania is one of the countries with the lowest reserve in gold, with only 20 dollars per capita. In Switzerland, this indicator is 6000 USD, while in Germany, Italy and France, it is 1800$. For many years, Albania has been considered as a country rich with gold. Some books of the past century say that the Albanian gold reserve in 1920 was almost 320 tons, but one century later this indication is hundreds of times smaller.

Top Channel