On 16 March 2023, top international experts gathered to discuss the subject “Gold as International Reserves: A Barbarous Relic No More?” in an e-lecture organized by SUERF – The European Money and Finance Forum in cooperation with Baffi Bocconi University. What explains the buildup over recent years by several EME countries of their gold reserves? What is the role of global economic and geopolitical uncertainty in explaining an acceleration of this trend since mid-2022? What would be the optimal share of gold in central banks’ international reserve on purely portfolio-management risk-return grounds? What role does the central bank’s accounting currency play in this decision? Which quantitative versus qualitative arguments play a role for this decision? Why have some central banks recently stopped reporting their full gold purchases? These and many other questions are analyzed and discussed in this video by internationally renowned economists.

Timeline and speakers:

00:00:14 –Ernest Gnan, Secretary General, SUERF – The European Money and Finance Forum: Welcome and introduction
00:02:44 - Barry Eichengreen, Professor of Economics and Political Science, University of California, Berkeley: Presentation of IMF Working Paper No 014/2023 “Gold as International Reserves: A Barbarous Relic No More?”
00:29:00 - Shaokai Fan, Global Head of Central Banks, World Gold Council: Long-term and recet trends in central banks’ gold holdings from a practitioner’s perspective
00:40:20 - Omar Zulaica, Senior Asset Management Specialist, Bank for International Settlements: Presentation of BIS Working Paper No 906/2020: “What share for gold? On the interaction of gold and foreign exchange reserve returns”.
00:50:11 - Discussion, Q&A
00:57:26 - Closing

© SUERF and Baffi Bocconi, 2023. All rights reserved. Views are those of speakers only and not necessarily those of their affiliated institutions. Slides and papers can be found at www.suerf.org/goldreserves