Many central banks increase gold reserves

Financial Business - Securities

Wednesday, May 3, 2023 16:50 (GMT+7)
22 hours ago

In March alone, Singapore added 17.3 tonnes of gold to its reserves.

Many central banks are moving to stockpile gold. Photo: Shutterstock .

According to Kitco News citing sources from the World Gold Council (WGC), throughout March, despite the precious metal's high trading price, the Central Bank of Singapore continued to add a significant amount of gold bars to its reserves.

Krishan Gopal, senior analyst at the WGC, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) bought 17.3 tonnes of gold in March alone.

“This means MAS bought 68.7 tonnes of gold in Q1, taking its gold reserves to 222.4 tonnes, 45% more than at the end of December,” Gopal said on Twitter.

China also added to its gold reserves in March, with the People’s Bank of China reporting an additional 18 tonnes of gold purchases. This marked the fifth consecutive month of gold purchases, bringing China’s total gold reserves to 2,068 tonnes, according to the WGC.

India also bought 3.5 tonnes of gold bullion in March, bringing its total purchases in the first quarter to 7.3 tonnes, the WGC senior analyst said. This means the country’s central bank now has about 794.6 tonnes of gold in its reserves.

On the other hand, there were also some other national central banks selling, with gold prices continuously testing the $2,000 /ounce level in late March.

Specifically, Türkiye, which was the largest gold buyer in 2022, has also begun to reduce its gold reserves.

Turkey's gold reserves have fallen 9% in just the past seven weeks, according to central bank data. The WGC also reported that the country sold 15 tonnes of gold in March, marking its first net sale of the commodity since November 2021.

In 2022, Türkiye saw a surge in demand for gold with people hoarding the precious metal as a hedge against inflation and devaluation of the local currency.

Another central bank that has been selling gold is the National Bank of Kazakhstan, which sold 10.5 tonnes in March. Compared to the same period last year, the central bank, which manages the monetary policy of Kazakhstan, reduced its gold holdings by 19.6 tonnes, bringing the country’s total gold reserves to 332 tonnes – the lowest since August 2018.

Thien An

gold gold bars gold reserves central bank