The Bank of Spain gold that Zapatero sold in 2007 would be worth 5 times more today.

More than 17 years have passed since Zapatero government sell a third of the world’s gold reserves Bank of Spain. Pedro Solbes, then Minister of Economy and Finance, considered that the precious metal was no longer profitable and decided to sell 3.5 million troy ounces between March and May 2007.

Not satisfied with this, in July of the same year, the former socialist minister sold another 800 thousand troy ounces. Total of them were sold 4.3 million ounces, reduction in gold reserves from 13.4 to 9.1 million ounces, a decrease of almost 32%.

These reserve movements were not without controversy. Actually, Solbes He had to give explanations on this matter at a plenary meeting of the Senate, where he stated that the sale of gold was a response to the need to “increase the return on assets” of the Bank of Spain. Moreover, he assured that gold “has played a fundamental reserve role in the past, which is gradually disappearing because it is not a profitable asset.”

A few months after his speech in the Senate financial crisis in the USA and gold again became the main safe-haven asset. Demand for it has increased, and when it exceeds supply, its price tends to rise. Thus, four years after the scandal with the Zapatero government, in 2011, its value was almost it tripled.

The cost of the operation has not been disclosed, but given the average price per ounce at that time, it can be calculated that The Bank of Spain has moved closer to 2.150 million euros.

This Saturday, October 19, gold again reached a new record, breaking the barrier of 2700 dollars – specifically it is 2722.14 dollars, which in exchange is about 2505.8 euros – which is 401.16% more than the sale price in 2007 year. the amount of gold sold by Solbes will be worth 10,774.94 million euroswhich is five times the price it was estimated to have sold for at the time.

Despite this “mistake” Spain It is still one of the 20 countries in the world with the largest gold reserves. According to the latest data, about 281 tons of gold are distributed between the Bank of Spain, the USA, the UK and Switzerland. World Gold Council (World Gold Council). The largest holder of gold is USA with 8,133.53 tons, almost a quarter of the world’s total. They follow him, although from afar, Germany with 3352 tons, Italy with 2452 and France from 2436.34.