\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t This story was originally published in \u00c1mbito. It has been slightly edited for clarity.<\/p>\n
On September 2, 2024, the Argentine Central Bank attempted to end weeks of rumors that the country\u2019s gold reserves had been shipped abroad by announcing that they had successfully completed \u201ctransfers of part of its gold reserves to its various accounts.\u201d In the final section of the press release, the entity stated that the national audit office (known as AGN) had the information required to write the corresponding reports.<\/p>\n
However, just over a year later, and after several information requests made by the AGN regarding the gold\u2019s location, yield, and transportation costs, the country\u2019s highest monetary authority has provided no answers. Quite the opposite in fact: sources within the AGN told Herald sister publication \u00c1mbito that the bank, known in Spanish as BCRA, has obstructed access to the required documents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re hiding something, and no one knows why,\u201d they stated. The matter is now in the hands of Congress\u2019 Joint Bicameral Accounts Review Commission.<\/p>\n
Speaking before Congress on September 23, 2025, AGN head Juan Manuel Olmos stressed that the waiting period is over.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe process of exchanging notes has been exhausted. It has led to the BCRA\u2019s refusal to provide the information necessary to conduct this audit. We are now at a stand still. We don\u2019t know where specifically the gold is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
AGN sources told \u00c1mbito that the Central Bank is using confidentiality as an excuse to block access to information, despite examples showing that the AGN \u201cis used to working with confidential, sensitive documentation, like with COVID vaccines.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
They added that \u201cthe Central Bank\u2019s only suggestion to the AGN was that they could go and check their computers to find what they needed, but could not take photographs, make copies, or take notes. They could only retain what they needed by memory. This makes the audit technically impossible to perform.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the other hand, several sources with knowledge in the matter emphasized that they don\u2019t know \u201cwhether the gold is in Switzerland or London. The uncertainty is such that there are even rumors that they had to convert part of the gold reserves into liquid form.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the BCRA\u2019s refusal continues, the commission has two options: either summon BCRA president Santiago Bausili to provide explanations in Congress, or file a lawsuit.<\/p>\n
However, AGN sources suggested that the BCRA\u2019s lack of transparency goes beyond the gold bars that were shipped abroad. It also includes the BOPREAL bonds, as the information required to conduct an audit could not be obtained either.<\/p>\n
\u00c1mbito contacted the BCRA\u2019s Communications Department but received no response.<\/p>\n
What do we know about the Argentine gold that was transferred abroad? According to media reports, two gold reserve transfers took place in June 2024. Shortly after, national Uni\u00f3n por la Patria deputy Sergio Palazzo (UxP), who is also general secretary of the banking sector\u2019s trade union, filed a freedom of information request to obtain \u201cclear, precise, complete, and detailed information\u201d about what had happened to the gold bars.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The deputy asked the institution to report \u201cwhether any gold bars had been shipped abroad in June, specifically if there had been one shipment on June 7, 2024, and another on June 28, 2024.\u201d He also requested information on the currency, quantity, amount, and commercial characteristics, as well as the destination, carrier, and airline that transported the gold. He also asked whether any new shipments were planned. Palazzo received no response.<\/p>\n
Three months later, the Central Bank issued a statement saying that \u201cfor more than a decade, the BCRA has managed its gold reserves in the same way, both in physical format (bars and ingots) and in electronic format (foreign bank accounts). These re-balancing operations do not alter the total volume of gold reserves, which remain equivalent to approximately US$ 4,9 billion as published in the August 23, 2024, balance sheet.\u201d<\/p>\n
In another section of the statement, the financial institution asserted that the AGN had access to this information, contrary to what the regulatory body claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe BCRA expresses its concern about the irresponsible, politically-motivated spread of information related to these operations before their completion, because it puts the security of the assets of all Argentines at risk. Information regarding the management of BCRA reserves has always been handled confidentially in an effort to preserve their security. Both the Office of the Audit General of the Nation and the relevant oversight bodies have access to this information under the same cloak of confidentiality.\u201d<\/p>\n
This last sentence is the one the AGN is challenging, stating that the BCRA fails to provide the necessary conditions for conducting an audit.<\/p>\n
What is the BCRA obligated to do? As the country\u2019s highest oversight authority in public administration, the AGN requested this information in order to provide a technical report to lawmakers and the general public.<\/p>\n
In a period no less than ten calendar days after the Joint Parliamentary Audit Committee receives the report, the AGN is empowered to initiate legal actions on the grounds of noncompliance with public information access laws.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Formally, the BCRA is subject to Financial Administration Law No. 24,156, which regulates the control systems of the national public sector. The law states that the AGN \u201cmay require the collaboration of all public sector entities, which shall be obligated to provide data, documents, background information, and reports related to the exercise of their functions.\u201d<\/p>\n
In accordance, the AGN\u2019s internal rules establish the procedure in the event of the audited entity\u2019s refusal or silence to submit information, and stipulate the timeframes that the AGN must wait in a case like this.<\/p>\n
The physical location of the gold bars that make up Argentina\u2019s gold reserves is currently unknown. There is also no reliable information about whether all or part of them were liquidated, and what financial benefit the country obtained from this series of transactions. An alarm that Congress \u2014 to which the AGN reports to \u2014 could sound sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This story was originally published in \u00c1mbito. It has been slightly edited for clarity. On September 2, 2024, the Argentine Central Bank attempted to end weeks of rumors that the country\u2019s gold reserves had been shipped abroad by announcing that they had successfully completed \u201ctransfers of part of its gold reserves to its various accounts.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":663,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[166,101,42,167,168,59],"tags":[163,97,96,164,165,86],"class_list":["post-662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bcra","category-central-bank","category-economics","category-gold","category-gold-reserves","category-politics","tag-bcra","tag-central-bank","tag-economics","tag-gold","tag-gold-reserves","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}