The Senate in
\nBucharest passed a bill whereby the Central Bank must repatriate nearly all the
\ncountry’s gold reserves stored in foreign countries. The Chamber of Deputies
\nwill give its final vote before submitting the bill to President Klaus Iohannis
\nfor ratification. The bill was spearheaded by Social-Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea
\nand Social-Democrat Senator Serban Nicolae. The two claim Romania’s gold
\nreserves abroad are not reporting any revenues, but simply covering the storage
\ncosts. The National Liberal Party, People’s Movement Party and Save Romania
\nUnion in opposition have criticized the bill and said would vote against it.
\nSerban Nicolae said Romania’s gold reserves, currently totaling 103.7 tons, is
\n65% stored a broad at the Bank of England and in Switzerland, while the
\nremaining 40 tons are stored at Romania’s Treasury, at the National Bank of
\nRomania. There is no reason left to justify keeping so much gold abroad, Serban
\nNicolae went on to say, adding that the bill is not a sanction against the
\nCentral Bank. Serban Nicolae:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
This is not a sanction against the National Bank of Romania. We are not
\ncriticizing the way the Bank has managed these reserves. We are not planning on
\nmodifying the way the Central Bank is managing our international reserves, just
\nthe gold. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The opposition
\nhas voted against the bill, saying it’s a populist measure in an election year,
\nwith devastating effects for the economy. Here is Vlad Alexandrescu, Senator
\nfor Save Romania Union:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The measure lacks any economic and financial justification. The only
\nexplanation is that Dancila’s Cabinet has almost depleted its funds and can no
\nlonger pay pensions and salaries. The Government is now planning to adopt
\nradical measures in the field of the judiciary, which could trigger sanctions
\nagainst Romania and isolate our country at international level.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Romania’s
\naccount at the Bank of England was opened in 1990, London being one of the
\nworld’s top financial centers. The gold was transferred from 1999 to 2002. Our
\ncountry pays a yearly fee for its storage. Repatriating the gold would however cost
\nmore than its storage, experts have warned. Besides, when a country has gold
\nreserves, its external loans have better ratings. Romania deposited its first
\ngold reserves abroad during World War II, when it deposited 11.6 tons at the
\nFederal Reserve in the United States, 10.2 tons at the Bank of England and 25.4
\ntons at the Bank of Switzerland. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romania’s gold reserves could be repatriated, according to a draft law passed by the Senate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":48094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[30541,39620,38933,29987],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-81294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-national-bank","tag-romanias-gold-reserves","tag-serban-nicolae","tag-vlad-alexandrescu"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n