Gold Reserves Rise Amidst Global Crises

Gold Reserves Rise Amidst Global Crises

Gold Reserves Rise Amidst Global Crises, Central banks across the world have hiked their gold reserves following the recent economic crisis sparked off by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to the World Gold Council, many Central Banks across the globe have increased their gold reserves by 83.8 tons during the first quarter of 2022. Despite the significant number of gold sales operations carried out by these banks, the net balance was positive, since the sector increased its reserves of said precious metal by almost 84 tons between the months of January and March 2022. This amount is 29% lower than what they did in the same period in 2021.

These figures from the World Gold Council reveal how modest central banks have been

Officials from the World Gold Council say that the demand from the Central Banks has been modest, and at the same time positive, at a very critical moment marked by the geopolitical crisis caused by the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, in addition to inflation in the global economy. . Among the countries that bought the most gold in the first quarter of 2022, Egypt is in the first place. The country increased its gold reserves by 44 tons. The gold purchased by the Central Bank of that country was extracted in its own mines, although the World Council believes that not all that gold belongs to its territory.

Gold Reserves Rise Amidst Global Crises; In second place is Turkey, which managed to increase its gold reserves by 37 tons

This now brings its total stock of gold reserves to 430 tons, which is 28% of its strategic reserves. The other country is India, which has increased its reserves by 6 tons since it resumed buying gold in 2017, acquiring more than 200 tons of said precious metal through its Central Bank. Ireland is another important buyer that, to a lesser extent, was also able to increase its gold reserves with an additional 2 tons, in addition to the almost 4 tons acquired in the second half of the previous year. However, the Irish Central Bank is keeping a low profile about these operations, although it is believed that the increase in its gold reserves is mainly due to the increase in inflation. The Central Bank of Ireland remains the only active buyer among developed market Central Banks and, although its purchases have been modest, it has increased its general reserves by a further 88% since August 2021.

Latin America and Africa are no exceptions

For its part, Ecuador, through its Central Bank, announced in March the acquisition of 3 tons from its own local producers in order to incorporate them into her gold reserves. The Ecuadorian authorities affirm that having gold is of vital importance, since it is a “safe” haven asset, being more appreciated, in times of economic and geopolitical turbulence, in the world financial markets. The Governor of the Central Bank of Ghana announced that they had acquired 600 kg of gold since the launch of the National Gold Purchase program in their country in order to increase its reserves from 9 tons to 17 tons. All these actions by central banks point to one thing: the time is ripe to buy gold. If you want more information about buying gold, please feel free to get in touch with us now.