Journal

Norwegian Gold

Gold from a Norwegian perspective — krone weakness, sovereign wealth, Norges Bank decisions, and what they mean for private buyers in Norway.

A central bank deciding it no longer needs gold is one of the more useful things a private buyer can read about, wherever they happen to live. The arguments a state makes when it sells — that the metal yields nothing, costs money to store and guard, and can be replaced by assets that pay a return — are the same arguments anyone faces holding physical gold, only written down and defended in public. The counter-arguments are equally instructive, because they are about what gold is for rather than what it returns. Read this category for that reasoning rather than for a verdict. Norway is a particularly clear case because the decision was announced and documented rather than inferred, which means the logic can be examined instead of guessed at.

Norwegian Gold

Norwegian Gold

Why Norway sold its gold in 2004

In Q1 2004, Norges Bank sold 33.5 tonnes of gold for USD 447 million — and never bought it back. Here is the full story, and what Norwegian gold buyers should learn from it.