Estonia has a single gold bar in its vault... but cannot sell it

The only gold ingot Estonia’s central bank has in storage is not pure enough for financial operations and is more suitable as a museum piece, the bank has revealed.

The piece of gold weighs 11 kilograms and is valued at around €500,000, the head of the financial market division of the Bank of Estonia, Fabio Filipozzi, told Terevisioon, according to Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR). The gold bar is 97 years old – three years younger than the bank, which celebrated its 100th anniversary on Friday. 

The rest of the country’s gold reserves amount to 256 kilograms, but it is stored in foreign banks, and in the US in particular. The tradition stems from the first half of the last century, before World War II began, when the country decided to transfer the precious metal to keep it safe.

Tallinn sold most of its gold reserves in the 1990s and invested money in other liquid assets, such as bonds and equities, according to the bank official.

Estonia’s gold reserves are the second lowest among European countries, behind Albania by 1.35 tons, according to Trading Economics website data. 

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