Central bank spokesperson on Romania’s gold reserves: To accuse lack of transparency means to ignore documents

The spokesperson of the National Bank of Romania, Dan Suciu, has taken stand on Monday to clear up statements related to the country’s gold reserve, a topic that has been in the pipeline in the past week, following PSD’s proposal to repatriate 91.5% of the gold reserve deposited by Romania abroad.

„In a recent statement, MEP Norica Nicolai has accused BNR of lack of transparency regarding the management of Romania’s international reserve, particularly the gold reserve. BNR is firmly rejecting these totally unfounded accusations. The bank’s annual reports, publicly released as of 1991, have thoroughly presented, in separate chapters, the situation of Romania’s international reserves and the management of the gold reserve, „Dan Suciu said in a public statement.

BNR spokesperson reminded that the latest annual report in 2017, submitted to the Parliament in June 2018, has a dedicated chapter on the management of the international reserves.

The report also contains a special chapter about the evolution of the gold reserve during 1990-2017, presenting all details related to the gold international stocks.

BNR also reminded that the transfer of the banks’ gold reserve to the Bank of England has been done during April 1999-March 2002, while previously informing state authorities about that (Presidency, Government, Parliament).

„Therefore, to accuse the BNR of lack of transparency on this issue just measn to ignore official documents at the disposal of the state authorities every year. The last BNR’s annual report is  available at http://www.bnro.ro/Publicatii-periodice-204.aspx, likewise all the other annual reports in the past 10 years. BNR calls on all those who are tackling topics relates to Romania’s international reserve to consult the bank’s official documents, in order to have detailed information about that. To question Romania’s gold reserve is not just a sign of ignoring reality and of defying the economic logic and the international  prudential practices, but also a form of spreading fake news”, Suciu concluded.