May 10, 2023
By: Rounak JainCentral banks around the world have been buying the safe-haven asset aggressively amidst recession concerns, with demand reaching 228 tonnes during the March quarter, according to the World Gold Council.
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Gold is considered as a store of value and a hedge against inflation and economic slowdown, giving it the status of a safe-haven asset. Other factors like rising interest rates resulting in a decline in US bonds value have also played a part in increasing the demand for gold.
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Credit: Canva
Singapore increased its gold reserves by 45 percent in the March quarter to 222.41 tonnes from 153.74 tonnes at the end of December 2022, which is an addition of 68.67 tonnes.
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China increased its gold reserves by 57.85 tonnes to 2,068.36 tonnes in March, but it is still a meagre increase of 3 percent in relative terms.
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Turkey scooped up 30.21 tonnes of gold during the March quarter, increasing its reserves to 571.98 tonnes.
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India continued to buy gold, slowly but steadily, increasing its total reserves by 7.26 tonnes to 794.62 tonnes at the end of March.
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The central European country increased its gold reserves by 13 percent to 13.5 tonnes, buying 1.54 tonnes of gold during the March quarter.
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Kazakhstan is the top gold seller in the March quarter with a reduction of 19.64 tonnes as gold prices crossed the $2,000 per ounce mark. The country’s gold reserves stand at 332 tonnes, the lowest since August 2018.
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Gold is one of the largest exports of Uzbekistan, and the country reported a decline of 14.61 tonnes of the yellow metal during the March quarter. Its current reserves stand at 381.33 tonnes.
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The South East Asian country reduced its gold reserves by nearly one-fifth during the March quarter to 42.49 tonnes, with sales of 10.07 tonnes of gold.
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Russia was one of the largest buyers of gold in 2022, but it ended up selling 6.22 tonnes of gold during the March quarter. It still has one of the largest reserves of gold in the world at 2,326.52 tonnes.
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Croatia sold all of its gold during the March quarter, with the sale of gold weighing 1.93 tonnes.
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