Luxembourg has all but given up gold

In an official response to an enquiry from Democratic Party (DP) MP André Bauler, Finance Minister Gilles Roth has confirmed that the country is virtually devoid of gold reserves. The only exception is the 1,800 Louis d'Or gold coins once held by the State Intelligence Service (SRE) and now held by the Central Bank of Luxembourg (BCL).

These coins, which are mainly of historical value, are valued at around €990,000, a sum that by the standards of national reserves looks more like a museum than strategic. Their storage at BCL began in 1998, when the state fully transferred all its gold assets to the bank. Since then, there have been no changes in the volume or location of storage - as confirmed by parliamentary enquiries in 2013, 2015 and 2020.

Luxembourg's situation stands in stark contrast to most eurozone countries, where gold remains an important part of reserve policy and an instrument of financial security. In the event of a crisis, such a "gold cushion" can act as a guarantor of national currency stability or a source of emergency liquidity. For Luxembourg, a country with a strong banking sector but without a significant gold fund, the bet is clearly on other forms of reserves, such as foreign exchange and securities.

The story of the Louis d'Or is more reminiscent of old diplomatic chests than of modern gold reserves. And while the €990,000 is not seriously important for economics, for historians and numismatists this collection is of considerable value - a kind of "golden shard" of the past.