WGC: Central bank Gold Purchases Hit Multi-Decade High in 2018

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The net gold purchases by central banks across the globe totaled 651t in 2018. The buying hit the highest level since 1971. The boost in purchases was mainly led by Russia, Turkey and Kazakhstan along with central banks from other countries around the world. When compared with the prior year, the gold purchases soared higher by 74%. The net gold purchases by central banks had totaled only 374.8t in 2017.

Russia added 274.3t to its gold reserves in 2018. This is the highest annual purchases on record by the country. For the fourth year in a row, the annual purchases exceeded 200t. The country’s gold reserves at the end of the year were 2,113t and have increased for 13 consecutive years, said the latest Gold Demand Trends Report published by the World Gold Council (WGC).

The Turkish central bank purchases totaled 51.5t in 2018, significantly lower by almost 40% when matched with the purchases of 85.9t in 2017. Kazakhstan’s gold reserves have increased by 50.6t during the previous year, registering eight straight year of increase.

The share of the above top three gold buyers declined sharply from 94% in 2017 to 58% in 2018. This indicates rise in gold purchases by other central banks.

Many European central banks reported notable gold purchases. For instance, Hungary increased its gold reserves ten-fold to 31.5t. Also, Poland’s gold reserves surged higher by 25.7t during 2018. The purchases by the country witnessed notable year-on-year jump by 25%.

Among other countries, India recorded net gold purchases of 40.5t. Mongolia bought 22t of gold, whereas the Central bank of Iraq bought 6.5t. The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) too reported addition of 14.3t to its gold reserves.

The notable gold sellers were Australia, Germany, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Ukraine, WGC report said.