Demand for gold from central bankers continues, with data available for February showing reported global central bank gold reserves rising by 24t. Thus far, Poland, China, Turkey, and the Czech Republic have led gold demand from emerging market central banks.
Central banks continued their strong interest for gold in January with reported net purchases of 18t. The sustained buying highlights the strategic importance of gold in official reserves, particularly as central banks navigate heightened geopolitical risks.
Central banks reported 12t of net buying in June via the IMF and other public data sources. Demand moderated during the month: monthly gross purchases of 31t were offset by gross sales of 18t.
In January, central banks reported that they increased global official gold reserves by 39t. This was more than double the (revised) December net purchases of 17t, and the eighth consecutive month of net purchases.
Having reported a return to net buying in June, the latest data shows global central banks continued to add to their gold reserves in July. Central banks reported healthy net purchases of 55t during the month.
Reported net purchases from central banks totalled 55t, the first month of sizeable global net buying since February.
As in recent months, activity from the Central Bank of Türkiye (CBRT) was pivotal to the global total.
Last week we published our updated central bank gold statistics to include data reported for June. This new information shows that central banks added a net 59t to global gold reserves during the month.
Following a strong 2021, in which central banks accumulated 463t of gold, today we’ve released the first set of central bank gold reserve data for 2022.
Global official gold reserves fell by 21.5t in November according to data released by the IMF. A sizable sale from Uzbekistan tipped the balance in what would have otherwise been a flat month.
Central banks bought 28.4t of gold in August, 9% less than in July. Leaving aside January’s 11.2t net sale, this is the lowest level of monthly net purchases so far this year.
Following a higher level of monthly net purchases in March and April, our latest data published today shows that this trend continued into May.
We have written before about how, after a more inconsistent picture for central bank demand in the second half of 2020, our expectation was for continued net purchases in 2021 but at a more moderate pace than in previous record-setting years. So, how is that expectation holding up?
In February, central banks bought a net 36 tonnes (t) of gold, almost a third higher than January’s net purchases, but 52% lower y-o-y. This brings y-t-d net purchases to 64.5t, 44% lower than the 116.1t of net purchases over the first two months of 2019.
Wishful thinking. That’s how Angel Gurría, secretary general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), responded to any prospect of a swift economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. But the scale of the impact on the global economy – as well as our daily lives – has been matched by the scale of the financial response.
At the end of January, the new head of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, announced the launch of a year-long strategic review of the bank’s monetary policy strategy. Stemming from this, there has been much discussion recently about the ECB’s existing “below but close to 2%” inflation target, and whether this needs to be made more specific, both in aim and measurement.
