The Croatian Central Bank (HNB) has purchased nearly two tons of gold worth €95 million, the Vecernji List daily wrote adding that the HNB was among the central banks without gold reserves because they had sold them on several occasions in the early 2000s.

Local media outlets reported on Thursday that the HNB had purchased almost two tons of gold in December last year.

The news was published by many portals, citing Krishan Gopaul, an analyst of the World Gold Council, who stated that the HNB bought almost two tons of gold in December, and before that it had not reported any assets in gold since 2001.

This purchase concerns 56,256 ounces of gold, or about 1.75 metric tons, with a total value of €96 million, as the central bank stated on its website.

The reason for such a decision is very concrete – the amount of the transfer of foreign exchange reserves is determined according to the capital key of the national central bank in relation to the current state of international reserves of the ECB, and the structure of the transfer is determined so that 85% of the amount is transferred in US dollars, and 15% in gold.

Therefore, the amount of foreign exchange reserves expressed in euros that the HNB was supposed to transfer to the ECB was estimated at €639.9 million, of which €96 million should have been in gold.

For the purpose of transferring gold, the Croatian Central Bank acquired an adequate amount of the so-called unallocated gold (without physical transport to Croatia).

The transfer of foreign exchange reserves to the ECB, i.e. the date of settlement of the transaction, was January 3, 2023, according to the announcement of the HNB.