Central Bank Gold Purchases Recorded Strongest Q1 Since 2013

The single largest buyer was Russia. The country’s central bank added 55.3t to its gold reserves.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Gold Demand Trends Q1 2019 Report published by the World Gold Council (WGC) indicates that central bank gold purchases witnessed strongest Q1 since 2013. The net purchases totaled 145.5t during the quarter, which is significantly higher by 68% when compared with the same quarter in 2018. Nine of the world’s central banks added more than 1 tonne to their gold reserves during the quarter.

The robust accumulation of gold by central banks across the world was triggered by a number of factors including economic uncertainty, sluggish economic growth by major economies, low or negative interest rate environment and ongoing geopolitical tensions.

The single largest buyer was Russia. The country’s central bank added 55.3t to its gold reserves. With this, Russia’s gold holdings now amount to 2,168.3t, accounting for nearly 19% of the country’s total reserves. Also, the country has hinted at increasing forex and gold reserves even more in the forthcoming quarters. China added 33t to its gold reserves in Q1 this year. The total Chinese gold holdings, currently at 1,885.5t, accounts for less than 3% of total reserves.

Turkey purchased 40.1t of gold during the quarter. The other notable purchaser was Kazakhstan whose reserves saw addition of 11.2t of gold. The country has added gold for 78 months in a row now. The other banks to report additions to gold reserves in Q1 were Qatar (+9.4t), India (8.4t) and Colombia (+6.1t).

On the other hand, Uzbekistan sold 6.2t of gold in Q1 this year. The other banks to report decline in gold holdings were Mongolia (-3.4t) and Tajikistan (-1t).

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