The wording of an amendment to the
government’s 2026 budget bill specifying that the Bank of
Italy’s gold reserves belong to the State has been reformulated,
Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti told the Senate Budget
Committee on Monday.
In an opinion sent to the Italian Economy and Finance Ministry
(MEF) earlier this month, the ECB said the reason for the
provision stating that the reserves “belong to the State, on
behalf of the Italian people” was not clear and called for it to
be reconsidered.
Giorgetti said the amendment has been reworked as follows:
“Without prejudice to the provisions of Articles 123, 127 and
130 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the
second paragraph of Article 4 of the Consolidated Text of the
legal provisions on currency matters, set forth in Presidential
Decree No. 148 of March 31, 1988, shall be interpreted to mean
that the gold reserves managed and held by the Bank of Italy, as
recorded in its balance sheet, belong to the Italian people.
“We are fine with the ECB,” Giorgetti added.
“With the reformulation that I presented in the name of the
government, we think that the question can be considered
closed”.
The amendment sparked speculation that the gold reserves could
be used by the government, perhaps selling part to bring down
Italy’s huge public debt of over three trillion euros.
The Bank of Italy said in its balance sheet that it has around
2,452 tonnes of gold reserves which, at the end of 2024, were
worth close to 200 billion euros.
The value of gold has increased by significantly this year.
The Bank of Italy says that “the purpose of the gold reserves is
to boost confidence in the stability of Italy’s financial system
and of the single currency.
“This function becomes all the more important when geopolitical
conditions or the international economic situation could put the
financial markets at additional risk, such as of a foreign
exchange or financial crisis,” it added.
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