The German Central Bank (Bundesbank) is holding 3,350 tons of gold, the second largest reserve in the world after the US. When world gold prices recently exceeded 4,700 USD (about 4,140 euros) per ounce, Germany's gold reserves are currently valued at nearly 440 billion euros.
Mr. Marcel Fratzscher - President of the German Institute for Economic Research DIW, said that this is a "huge crisis reserve fund" and Germany should be willing to use at least a part.
Answering T-online news site, he suggested that the collected money could be used to reduce the burden on people and businesses, or invest in education and infrastructure.
The call was made in the context of continued consumer prices.
Not all of Germany's gold is in Frankfurt. About 1,236 tons, equivalent to nearly 1/3 of the total gold reserves, are being held at the US Federal Reserve in New York. Another 404 tons are being held in London.
All of this gold is still under the management of Bundesbank.
This arrangement has deep historical roots. After World War II, Germany achieved a large trade surplus and this money was converted into gold under the Bretton Woods system. When this system collapsed in the early 1970s, the gold was still kept at its storage.
In 2017, Bundesbank brought 374 tons of gold from the French Central Bank in Paris back home, on the grounds that Germany and France both used the euro. However, most of the foreign reserves are still in New York.
This has sparked increasingly large political debate.
Mr. Michael Jager - Vice President of the German Taxpayers Association and President of the European Taxpayers Association - said that confidence in the US has declined, so it is time to bring this gold back home.
In March 2026, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party submitted a petition to the German Parliament requesting the repatriation of all gold reserves of the country.
For a long time, Bundesbank has always opposed selling gold, considering gold reserves as a long-term pillar to create confidence for the currency. This agency has also repeatedly affirmed its trust in the US Federal Reserve as a custodian.
