LONDON – Some of the gold bars kept by the Bank of England to prop up the pound in times of economic turmoil are showing cracks and fissures, a newspaper reported Saturday.

Experts say the deterioration could temporarily reduce the value of the country’s 320 tonnes in gold reserves, which the central bank keeps on the government’s behalf, the Times reported.

The complete British reserve is worth around $8 billion.

Bank of England officials were not immediately available for comment.

The bank confirmed the deterioration in response to a Freedom of Information request by the trade journal Metal Bulletin. The bank said it was working to establish how much of gold reserves are affect – but believes it is a small proportion, the report said.

“This is not about purity, this is about physical appearance,” the newspaper quoted the bank as saying.

The deterioration will only be an issue if the central bank needs to sell the gold. It would then have to be sent off to a refiner so it could be melted down and turned into new bars, the report said.

The problem is mainly due to the age of the bars, many of which were imported from United States in the 1930s and 1940s, the newspaper said, adding that many other central banks could face similar problems.

The bank’s reserves were now too small, relative to the size of Britain’s $2.4 trillion economy, for the cracks to be an issue, said Jonathan Davis, of Armstrong Davis Chartered Financial Planners.

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