LAWMAKERS from Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing coalition are attempting to have Italy’s gold reserves declared property of the Italian people, sparking concerns the move could facilitate a government sell-off of the metal, said the Financial Times in an article today.
Italy holds the world’s third largest gold reserves after the US and Germany, with approximately 2,452 tons worth about €285bn at current prices, said the newspaper citing Bank of Italy data.
The central bank maintains it owns the gold as part of the country’s official foreign exchange reserves, which bolster confidence in Italy’s financial system and the euro whilst safeguarding the institution’s ability to fulfil its public functions.
However, Brothers of Italy party members are pushing to insert a provision in the forthcoming budget law declaring that “gold reserves managed and held by the Bank of Italy belong to the Italian people”.
Senator Lucio Malan, chief whip for Brothers of Italy, said the party felt compelled to clarify that the gold represents the fruit of Italian labour and has always been property of the Italian people.
The ownership question has preoccupied Italy’s rightwing parties since a Bank of Italy restructuring a decade ago made financial institutions, including private lenders, nominal shareholders in the central bank, said the Financial Times.
Meloni raised concerns in a 2014 parliamentary speech about expropriations of Italian monetary sovereignty, insisting the gold should under no circumstances be touched by the central bank’s new owners.
In 2019, the European Central Bank warned that transferring reserves off the Bank of Italy’s balance sheet to the state would circumvent monetary financing prohibitions and violate EU treaties. The bank said on Monday it is currently considering the matter after being consulted by Italian authorities.
Economists warn the change could enable any Italian government to sell gold to reduce the country’s substantial debts or fund underfunded services.
Salvatore Rossi, the central bank’s former director-general, wrote last month that systematically reducing gold reserves to relieve public finances would signal Italy had exhausted other resources.
Malan said the government has no intention of selling or relocating reserves, approximately half of which are stored in America.
