Slovak gold returned to the National Bank of Slovakia

In line with the "Protocol between the Government of the Slovak Republic and the Government of the Czech Republic on the handover of the remaining part of the gold from the reserves of the former State Bank of Czechoslovakia" signed by the Prime Ministers of the two Governments on 24 November 1999, and in connection with the ratification of the inter-state agreement on the joint procedure for dividing the property of the former Federation, the Czech National Bank has handed over 4.1 tonnes (precisely: 4,124,623.254 grams) of pure gold to the National Bank of Slovakia.

In compliance with the handover protocol, the CNB was obliged to release the gold within seven days of the inter-state agreement being ratified by both chambers of the Czech Parliament, i.e. on Wednesday 17 May 2000 at the latest.

The CNB has met the terms of this protocol. The gold has been handed over by the CNB and taken over by the NBS. It is now on the territory of the Slovak Republic.

Of the total amount of gold transferred, 4 tonnes is in the form of 325 bars, and 124,622.764 grams of pure gold is in the form of 26,660 gold coins. These include ducats bearing the motif of Charles IV minted between 1978 and 1982, "Kremnica ducats" produced by the mint in Kremnica in 1934 to mark the renewal of gold extraction in Kremnica, and an assortment of gold coins from various European states. Although the ratio of coins to bars was specified in the inter-governmental protocol, the structure of the coins handed over was agreed upon by representatives of specialised departments of the two banks.

The total volume of 4.1 tonnes of gold is equivalent to around 132,610 oz (troy ounces).

Milan Tománek
CNB spokesman