The country's gold reserve fell to a 23-year low in July this year, according to Malta's central bank. As a result, Malta has little to no yellow metal left to protect its financial stability in the event of a crisis.
In January, Malta's gold reserve amounted to 3.2 million euros in value terms. By July, the figure was 82.3 thousand euros. The bank explained this unexpected sale by the fact that gold "was stored in the bank for tactical purposes, and was also recently invested according to the same considerations."
According to analysts, the country's authorities wanted to sell almost the entire gold reserve in order to increase the volume of other assets in the reserve, taking advantage of the large increase in gold prices over the past 2 years, or to increase their capital without raising taxes. In any case, the yellow metal has fulfilled its function as a liquid protective asset, rising in price against the background of economic instability.