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Voima/Jan Nieuwenhuijs/4-2-2020
“As the above chart reveals, the Germans are wary of inflation, for which they hold physical gold as insurance. In the 2011 survey by CFin, more than 80% of the respondents said to “buy gold because of the preservation of value and protection against inflation.” In the respective publication is a graph showing the “proportion of people who bought gold for investment purposes” across Germany (23%), France (3.3%), and Italy (6.7%). The Germans see gold as a safe haven. For the French and Italians, gold is more a substance of adornment.”
“Ask anyone in Germany what they associate with gold and, more often than not, they will say that it is synonymous with enduring value and economic prosperity. Ask us at the Bundesbank what our gold holdings mean for us and we will tell you that, first and foremost, they make up a very large share of Germany’s reserve assets … [and they] are a major anchor underpinning confidence in the intrinsic value of the Bundesbank’s balance sheet. The Bundesbank produced this publication to give a detailed account, the first of its kind, of how gold has grown in importance over the course of history, first as medium of payment, later as the bedrock of stability for the international monetary system.” – Jans Wiedmann, president, Bundesbank (Germany’s central bank)