Central banks globally have been buying gold at unprecedented levels, especially those in China, Turkey and India. The pace of this trend has accelerated. In order to diversify their currency holdings and reduce their dependence on the US dollar, they have been increasing their gold reserves over the last 13 years.
The World Gold Council (WGC) explains that the total amount of the metal demanded by central banks in 2022 and 2023 has surpassed all annual totals since 1967 with 673 tons.
The United States, by far, is the largest gold reserve in the world, with 8,133 tons.
Russia and China (arguably America's main geopolitical rivals) have been the largest buyers of gold over the past two decades. The People's Bank of China was the largest buyer of gold last year, with 225 tons.
Seven of the top countries by gold reserves are also among the 10 largest economies.
The following are concentrated in Europe; Germany follows, with 3,353 tons; Italy, with 2,452 tons, and France, with 2,437.
Russia comes over China, with 2,333 and 2,192 respectively. And the last places go to Switzerland (1,040), Japan (847), India (801), Holland (612) and Turkey (479).
More and more gold
Central banks purchased nearly 400 tons of gold during the third quarter of 2022, which is a large increase. The World Gold Council has maintained data on this sector since 2000, and this amount of demand is more than double the previous record, set in the third quarter of 2018.
