Over the past decade, Venezuela quietly transferred a large share of its central-bank gold reserves to Switzerland, a move that later emerged as one of the clearest signals of the country’s deepening financial crisis.
Between 2014 and 2019, Caracas airlifted around 127 tonnes of gold to Swiss refineries, according to Swiss customs records, which track all precious-metal imports and exports. At the time, the bullion was worth close to 4.7 billion Swiss francs, or about €5 billion.
The shipments took place under the government of Nicolás Maduro, as Venezuela’s access to international credit markets narrowed and foreign currency reserves dried up.
Why Switzerland?
Switzerland occupies a unique position in the global gold trade. By value, it has long been the world’s largest importer and exporter of gold, acting as a clearing centre for bullion moving between continents.
Crucially for Venezuela, Switzerland hosts some of the world’s largest and most trusted gold refineries, including Valcambi, PAMP and Argor-Heraeus, most of them based in the canton of Ticino. These facilities can melt and recast gold into internationally recognised “Good Delivery” bars, certified for sale across global markets.
That process makes bullion easier to monetise, whether through outright sales or by using refined gold as collateral for loans.
A move driven by cash pressure
At the time of the transfers, Venezuela was facing an acute shortage of usable hard currency. Oil export revenues, the state’s primary source of dollars, had collapsed amid falling production and weak prices.
According to Swiss public broadcaster SRF, the Maduro government moved gold abroad as an act of financial urgency, selling part of it and pledging some as collateral in an attempt to keep debt payments afloat and avoid sovereign default.
By 2017, Venezuela had effectively lost access to normal refinancing channels. A policy paper published that year by the Center for International Governance Innovation estimated a financing gap of more than $15 billion, even before accounting for obligations linked to China.
The same analysis warned that Venezuela had “little in the way of assets or policy options” left to close that gap, despite the ongoing gold transfers.
What happened to the gold?
Swiss customs data later showed large inflows of Venezuelan gold, followed by corresponding outflows. After refining, some of the bullion is believed to have been shipped onward to other major trading hubs, including the United Kingdom.
Investigations cited by SRF also indicated that Venezuela sold significant quantities of refined gold to Turkey, which had emerged as one of the few willing buyers at the time.
While the transactions attracted scrutiny, they did not initially violate international sanctions. Switzerland had not yet imposed restrictions on Venezuelan financial dealings, in line with its long-standing approach to financial discretion.
That changed in 2018, when the Swiss Federal Council tightened regulations and aligned more closely with European Union sanctions targeting Venezuela. Similar gold transfers would now be far more difficult, if not impossible.
A strategy that failed
Despite the scale of the gold shipments, the strategy did not prevent default. Venezuela stopped meeting key debt obligations in 2017 and has since remained largely cut off from international capital markets.
The country’s foreign debt is now estimated at up to $170 billion, roughly twice its annual economic output. With limited reserves, ongoing sanctions and weak oil production, Venezuela remains effectively bankrupt.
In hindsight, the gold airlifts to Switzerland served less as a solution than as a warning. They underscored how close the state had come to exhausting every available asset in a bid to stay solvent, and how little room remained once those reserves were gone.
