Romania is one of the countries with the highest gold reserves per inhabitant, and the local currency is 60 to 70 percent offset by gold, said the Romanian Central Bank BNR Governor Mugur Isarescu.

The country's gold reserve stood at 103.7 tonnes at the end of March, valued at some EUR 4.1 billion. Gold was some 11 percent of BNR's total international reserves at the end of March.

This brings the gold per inhabitant to 5.5 grams, based on the most recent census data which indicated 19 million Romanians. Romania ranks however 34th in the world based on its quantity of gold. First place goes to the US, with 8,000 tonnes of gold.

The biggest gold reserves belong to the US and Germany, and in their cases, gold represents 70 percent of the total reserves of these countries.

The BNR governor argued that Romania's gold reserve should stay at some 100 tonnes, and based his argument on a superstition: every time the reserve has gone higher than 100 tonnes, something bad has happened to Romania. He also admitted to having a connection to the gold reserve. “In 1990,when I was named Governor, the first thing I did was to go to the coffers and check the gold. It was the last tangible reserve Romania had and I needed to regain trust. Somebody asked me how I managed to keep going as governor. Probably I got some magic from the coffers, it was small then,some 65 tonnes, enough to give me confidence for a few good years at least. We are currently at the second cycle of gold price boom I have experienced,” the Governor said during a conference dedicated to central bank gold.

Romania's gold reserves went up and down during various historic events and economic cycles. Its peak was in 1940, when the country has 140 tonnes of gold, ranking 12th in the world. At the beginning of the 1900, it had some 10.5 tonnes,and the reserve constantly went up until the 1940 peak. Another low point was 1915-1920,when Romania gave its gold reserves to Russia for safekeeping, Thus in 1920, Romania had less than two tonnes of gold.

After the World War II, World Gold Council did not record any data about BNR's gold reserve for three decades. In 1973, when Romania became an IMF member, it had 71 tonnes, which went up until 1985, when it had 119 tonnes. In the late 80s, it went down again, as the country's president Nicolae Ceausescu decided to sell gold and reimburse the country's debt. Until 1999, the reserves went up again, to 103- 105 tonnes,which is the current level.

editor@romania-insider.com