Ronan tweets that FRBNY Dec withdrawals were
only 10.31t. As we were expecting 42t, Victor suggests only three options:
- US gov't tells lies
- Bundesbank tells lies
- US gov't loco swapped part of their gold to
London so the Bundesbank could get LGD
I think a swap is the most likely and as Ronan notes such loco swaps between central
banks occur often. The question is whether it was the US or Germany or
Netherlands that requested the swap and who else was on the other side of the
swap - I'd agree Bank of England is best candidate.
A possible rework of the repatriation schedule from my last post is below.
|
Month
|
Germany
|
Netherlands
|
Total
|
|
Feb 14
|
10.31
|
|
10.31
|
|
Mar 14
|
9.58
|
|
9.58
|
|
May 14
|
5.16
|
|
5.16
|
|
Jun 14
|
5.16
|
|
5.16
|
|
Jul 14
|
24.31
|
|
24.31
|
|
Aug 14
|
15.47
|
|
15.47
|
|
Sep 14
|
|
7.37
|
7.37
|
|
Oct 14
|
|
41.99
|
41.99
|
|
Nov 14
|
5.16
|
41.99
|
47.15
|
|
Dec 14
|
10.31
|
|
10.31
|
|
Total FRBNY
|
85.46
|
91.35
|
176.81
|
|
Swapped
|
|
31.65
|
31.65
|
|
Repatriated
|
85.46
|
123
|
208.47
|
The numbers can work with Germany not doing a swap
and it being the Netherlands that did the swap but you can mix up the
numbers any way. Koos reported that the Netherlands started in October which
if true means they must have swapped something as only 99.45t came out of
FRBNY over the last quarter and even if you include the 7.37t as a late Sep
shipment for Netherlands, which could be consistent with a general statement
about an October start, they still had to swap circa 31.65t.
On the side of Germany having done a swap is their reporting of them
utilising BIS' "expertise", as the BIS is involved in facilitating transactions in the gold market.
The 10.31t figure for Dec gives both Koos and Boehringer
something to question the two governments about who swapped - either way
Germany or Netherlands has not fully explained that they did not physically
repatriate ALL of the gold from the US. Hopefully they can get to the bottom
of who misrepresented by omission.
