The reasons put forward by official sources in the Reuters and Times articles for why Venezuela can’t withdraw its gold from the Bank of England are clearly bogus. The more logical and likely explanation is that the US, through the White House, US Treasury and State Department have been liaising with the British Foreign office, HM Treasury to put pressure on the Bank of England to delay and push back on Venezuela’s gold withdrawal request.

However, these ‘British officials’ are creating a dangerous precedent that other central bank gold customers of the Bank of England around the world will be taking note of. Similar gold withdrawal requests from other central banks, especially those that hold gold loans and gold swaps and want allocation, could well precipitate a run on the physical gold stored in the Bank of England’s vaults.