Show me the (gold)money!

Recently there have been more and more rumors about the actual amount of gold that is held by central banks. America has the largest gold reserves, which amount to 8133 tons. However, some doubt that this is the case. There's a risk that the gold could have been replaced by tungsten with only a thin layer of gold or perhaps leased out. So, the U.S. Treasury conducted an audit of the gold stored in the New York Fed and elsewhere. The results, which were released in January, showed that the gold was not only intact but even more pure than previously thought. 27 ounces were added to the gold reserves and the auditing process itself destroyed 10 ounces. But doubts remain.

Shouldn't the audit have been conducted by an independent firm? And what about the gold stored in Fort Knox and West Point? When was the last time that gold was audited? Even though it seems unlikely that the U.S. would possess less gold than is stated officially the situation is bizarre. Let's take a look at the information about international reserves released by the IMF: http://www.imf.org/external/np/sta/ir/IRProcessWeb/data/usa/eng/curusa.htm

According to this the U.S. has 261.5 mln ounces of gold, which should be worth almost 420 bln dollars using the current gold price of about 1600 dollars/ounce. However, according to the IMF statement the U.S. gold is only worth about 11 bln dollars! This would imply a price of only 42 dollars/ounce. When has the gold price been that low? Why this inaccurate estimate?

Why are the gold reserves of other countries up to date? Germany has 109 mln ounces valued at almost 183 bln dollars, which gives a price of 1674 dollars/ounce. The value is up to date. Poland's gold for example probably hasn't been audited since before WWII, yet its value is estimated at 5540.78 bln dollars. Divided by 3.31 mln ounces this gives a price of 1674 dollars/ounce. The estimate is up to date. France has 78.3 mln ounces of gold valued at 130 bln dollars, which gives a price of 1664 dollars/ounce. Also up to date. Sweden has 4 mln ounce of gold valued at 6.7 bln dollars. This gives a price of 1662 dollars/ounce. The price in this case is up to date as well. The IMF works in mysterious ways. This is probably not the end of the doubts as to the gold reserves.

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