Central Banks Turned into Net Gold Purchasers in February

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The world central banks collectively turned out to be net purchasers of gold during the month of February this year, said the latest report published by the World Gold Council (WGC). The banks had been oscillating between net buyers and sellers of gold during the past few months.

During the month, global gold reserves saw an addition of 8.8 tons. The purchases by the Indian central bank totalled 11.2 tons. The other major countries that added to their gold holdings were Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which saw additions of 7.2 tons and 1.6 tons respectively. Meantime, the Turkish central bank emerged as the major seller, offloading 11.7 tonnes of gold from its reserves.

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The National Bank of Hungary (NBH) tripled the country’s gold reserves to 94.5 tons, which is the highest level in several decades. The country has the highest per capita gold reserves among all the countries in the central and eastern Europe region.

Over the year-to-date period, global central banks reported net gold sales of 16.7 tons, said the WGC report.

Krishan Gopaul, Market Intelligence Manager, WGC noted that central banks are likely to remain net purchasers in 2021. However, the immediate outlook for central bank demand remains finely balanced.