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Central banks bought more gold in 2018 than at any time since the early 1970s – and the trend has continued this year. Isabelle Strauss-Kahn, Member of the Advisory Board of the World Gold Council, former Director of Market Operations at the Banque de France and former Lead Financial Officer at the World Bank, explains why.

The first half of 2019 proved quite eventful for financial markets. Stocks retraced their Q4 2018 losses by the end of April only to pullback again in May.

Gold demand lifted by central banks and ETFs. This compares with a relatively weak Q1 2018, when demand sank to a three-year low of just 984.2t. Central bank buying continued apace: global gold reserves grew by 145.5t.

The upcoming Fed meeting could provide clarity into the intermediate-term price behavior of gold. As uncertainty becomes more prevalent in the future behavior of the Federal Reserve, we examine whether there is any correlation with monetary policy uncertainty/behavior and gold prices.

Gold is a highly liquid yet scarce asset, and it is no one’s liability. It is bought as a luxury good as much as an investment.

2018 was a very active year across all of our key programmes with many significant events occurring in the market. From major policy announcements through to renewed gold buying from particular quarters, the year was a true reflection of the diversity of what we strive to achieve.

In January 2009, the world was in the grip of the Global Financial Crisis. Markets were in turmoil, economies were falling into recession, policymakers were panicking.

Gold demand in 2018 reached 4,345.1t, up from 4,159.9t in 2017. This was exactly in line with five-year average demand of 4,347.5t.

As we look ahead, we expect that the interplay between market risk and economic growth in 2019 will drive gold demand. And we explore key trends that will influence its price performance.

Gold demand was 964.3t in Q3, just 6.2t higher y-o-y. Robust central bank buying and a 13% rise in consumer demand offset large ETF outflows.