Gold reserves of countries of the world

Gold reserves of Russia

Main article: Gold reserves of Russia

Gold and foreign exchange reserves of China

Main article: Gold and foreign exchange reserves of China

2024: Countries named leaders in gold reserves. Russia in 6th place

In the face of a deteriorating geopolitical situation and a difficult macroeconomic situation, world central banks are replenishing their reserves with gold at a record pace. According to the results of the first half of 2024, net metal purchases by all Central Bank on a global scale reached 483.3 tons. This is 5% more compared to January-June 2023. Such data are reflected in the materials of the World Gold Council (WGC), which TAdviser got acquainted with in early September 2024.

According to the Kommersant newspaper, the total volume of gold in the reserves of central banks and financial institutions (IMF, ECB) around the world in the first half of 2024 exceeded 36 thousand tons. The high demand for metal from regulators stimulates the growth of its value. In August 2024, the price of gold for the first time in history exceeded $2,500 per troy ounce, and the growth since the beginning of this year was recorded at almost 23%. According to a survey conducted by the WGC among 70 regulators, in the future, many Central Banks intend to increase the volume of gold in reserves - this was stated by 29% of respondents.

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The leader in gold reserves by mid-2024 is USA 8133.5 tons. In second place is with Germany 3351.5 tons, and the IMF closes the top three with 2814 tons. Russia in this rating is in sixth position - 2335.9 tons. In general, the list is as follows:

1. USA - 8133.5 tons;

2. Germany - 3351.5 tons;

3. IMF - 2814 tons;

4. Italy - 2451.8 tons;

5. France - 2437 tons;

6. Russia - 2335.9 tons;

7. China - 2264.3 tons;

8. Switzerland - 1040 tons;

9. Japan - 846 tons;

10. India - 840.8 tons;

11. Netherlands - 612.5 tons;

12. Turkey - 584.9 tons;

13. ECB - 506.5 tons;

14. Taiwan - 422.7 tons;

15. Portugal - 382.7 tons;

16. Poland - 377.4 tons;

17. Uzbekistan - 365.2 tons;

18. Saudi - Arabia - 323.1 tons;

19. Britain - 310.3 tons;

20. Kazakhstan - 298.8 tons;

21. Lebanon - 286.8 tons;

22. Spain - 281.6 tons;

23. Austria - 280 tons;

24. Thailand - 234.5 tons;

25. Singapore - 228.9 tons^[1] reserves]

2023: Decline in gold purchases by central banks after record purchases

2022

Record gold purchases by central banks since 1967 - 673 tons. The share of gold in the gold reserves of all countries - 14.5%

Over the year, central banks around the world have purchased a record amount of gold since 1967. A total of 673 tons of gold. The largest volumes of precious metal were bought by the Central Bank of Russia and China.

The share of gold in gold reserves in all countries of the world is 14.5% as of December 2022 against 13% 10 years ago.

Central Bank of Turkey - the largest buyer of gold increases reserves by 148 tons to 542 tons

Gold as an inflationary hedge in 2022 made Turkey the largest buyer of the metal in the world. The gold reserves of the Central Bank reached a record level, the official figure was 542 tons, an increase of 148 tons.

Households have also rushed to purchase the commodity to guard against geopolitical uncertainty and soaring inflation.

2018: Record gold purchases by central banks over 50 years

Value of gold reserve in reserves of countries of the world

The volume of gold that central banks of states acquired in 2018 reached its highest level since the end of the gold standard era half a century ago.

Top Five:

1. USA - 8133.5 tons.
2. Germany - 3369.7 tons.
3. Italy - 2451.8 tons.
4. France - 2,436 tons.
5. Russia - 2150.5 tons.

2015: China (6th place) bypasses Russia (7th place) in reserves

As of March 2015, the ranking of countries in terms of gold in reserves looked like this:

Nominally, the largest holder of gold is the United States, although no one conducts an audit and partly gold could have been stolen (pledged) a long time ago.

In July 2015, the People's Bank of China published an updated estimate of the country's gold reserves for the first time in 6 years. According to the regulator's website, the PRC reserves contain 1,658 tons of gold.

Thus, since 2009, when the Central Bank of China classified the data on its gold reserve, the PRC has acquired 604 tons of gold (+ 57%), which allowed the republic to rise from 7th to 6th place in the ranking of the largest holders of the reserve. At the same time, the Celestial Empire overtook Russia, whose gold reserve is 1250^[2].

As of July 2015:

2014: Russia accounts for a third of gold purchases by the world's central banks

In 2014, a third of gold purchases by Central Banks fell on Russia, writes The Financial Times, citing data from the GFMS research group. As the newspaper notes, Moscow spent more on the purchase of this metal than at any time since the collapse of the USSR^[3].

In 2014, Central banks around the world bought 461 tons of gold, which is 13% more than in 2013. This is the second highest figure since the gold standard was abolished in 1971, the article says. The publication draws attention to the fact that in this way regulators continued to diversify their foreign exchange reserves after the financial crisis, over the previous six years they added 1.8 million tons of gold to their reserves.

As for the Bank of Russia, Moscow seeks to get away from dependence on the dollar and support the ruble, which collapsed against the American currency over the past year amid falling oil prices and Western sanctions, the newspaper writes. According to GFMS, in the first 11 months of 2014, the Russian Central Bank acquired 152 tons of gold for $6.1 billion (at current prices), which is 123% more than in the previous year.

The newspaper clarifies that experts took into account the IMF data and their own calculations, and the Central Banks themselves did not provide information.

2012: US in first place in reserves, Russia in eighth

Private investment in gold

Main article: Investment in gold

Notes