Carl-Ludwig Thiele, a member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, stated that half of all German gold will be stored in the country by 2020. He said in an interview to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung the gold repatriation program is going on schedule.
Interestingly, Germany is holding the second largest gold reserve in the world after the United States. Germany possesses 270,000 gold bullions totaling 3,384 tons. In 2012, only 31% of the gold was stored in Germany, the rest was kept in London, Paris, and New York.
Gold repatriation is a painstaking story for Germany. Over a long time, the German authorities were under pressure from public opinion, demanding all the gold back to the homeland. In January 2015, Bundesbank reported that 120 tons of gold were repatriated from storage facilities in the US and France during 2014. 85 tons of it were delivered from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the remaining 35 tons were brought back from the Bank of France.
So, 674 tons are left to be repatriated to Germany.
However, some problems arose over the delivery of 300 tons which are to be returned from the US by 2020. This program is being carried out behind schedule. The main reason for delays is a diplomatic obstacle. In 2013, Bundesbank even had to announce that a delegation visited the Bank of New York and settled the matter. Apparently, the US Federal Reserve exercised its vast power to put diplomatic pressure on Germany.
