A chart of global central bank and monetary institutions holdings of gold has several large slices.

The major slices are in just a few hands; the 12 nations of the 'Euro' currency, the United States and Switzerland's shares alone account for almost 70%; that rises to over 80% if institutions like the IMF are included. The 'rest of the world' slice of 13% is thinly divided by many countries. Russia and China each have scarcely 1.5% of the pie, even Japan has only 2.2%.

A few nations do not declare all or part of their gold holdings, but that does not alter the share-out much. Around 1,500-2,000 tonnes (48.2-64.3 million oz) may be undeclared, giving total world monetary stocks of up to 34,500 tonnes (1,109 million oz).

The shares held by the US and Europe really reflect the world economy as it was thirty years ago. The US had built up large stocks after raising its buying price to $35 in 1934 and by 1949 held 22,000 tonnes (707 million oz) or 75% of all official stocks. As European economies improved in the 1950s and 60s, their central banks traded in excess dollars at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for gold at $35 per ounce. That is the origin of today's European holdings.

Then, in 1971, the Federal Reserve closed its 'gold window'. Official gold stocks, which had previously reflected the ebb and flow of nations' economies, were largely frozen. The share-out of today's gold reserves is really a snapshot of the world economy in 1971; it is the legacy of another era.

The debate that increasingly engages the gold market is how that imbalance can be redressed without damage to the price. Central banks sold close to 3,000 tonnes (96.4 m oz) in the 1990s, and sales are now running at 500 tonnes (16 million oz) annually, but the share of the official gold pie has not changed much. The issue is, can slices be more evenly divided among newly prosperous economies, such as China or, as with silver a century ago, are central banks notably in Europe, going to continue to reduce their gold holdings?

The Washington/European Agreement of September 1999 sought to address the question by putting some cap on annual average gold sales in Europe over the next five years. But by permitting 400 tonnes (12.9 million oz) of sales annually, it was actually sanctioning a higher annual sales than in the 1990s, when it was around 300 tonnes (9.6 million oz).

The gold reserve pie is set to shrink, but without much change in the large slice-holders.