Sergio Goncalves, Pedro Nunes

LISBON, Portugal (Reuters) – Portugal’s central bank opened its vaults near Lisbon to allow a rare view of some of the country’s precious gold reserves.

Carregado’s 67,000-square-metre compound houses an ultrasecure vault in which 45% of the Bank of Portugal keeps 382.6 tonnes of Gold. 55% of the remaining funds are located abroad. They are mainly at Bank of England, London.

Helder Rosalino of Bank of Portugal, who was accompanied by an armed police officer on Tuesday while he spoke out about gold being an important asset.

This complex, opened in 1995 by security cameras and alarms, has multiple locks that are keypad-controlled and have improved over time.

They are stored on shelves, each weighing 12 kg (26.46lb), in an underground vault with armoured doors. The vault is only accessible by three employees. They can be opened by using a code that’s on a rotary knob. This code requires two keys to open the door. After turning two keys, wait until a fourth person enters another code from an remote room.

Rosalino claimed that Portugal’s reserves of gold have seen a 16.8-billion euro increase in value since 1999, when it was created officially. This rose to approximately 19.8 Billion euros, an increase of 4.3% in the last year.

He stated that 2021’s rise was due to appreciation of the U.S. Dollar against the Euro. The price of gold is in U.S. Dollars.

Portugal is home to the 14th-largest gold reserve in the world, which represents nearly 10% of Portugal’s GDP.