Research library

Q2 gold demand of 953.4t was 10% lower than 2016, while H1 demand slowed 14% to 2,003.8t. 

The gold market is broad and complex, so producing statistics on demand and supply is challenging. But having such statistics is crucial to understanding the fundamentals of the market. 

Global gold demand in Q1 2017 was 1,034.5t. The 18% y-o-y decline suffers from the comparison with Q1 2016, which was the strongest ever first quarter. Inflows into ETFs of 109.1t, although solid, were nonetheless a fraction of last year’s near-record inflows. 

Unprecedented monetary policies (including quantitative easing and negative nominal interest rates) have had the unintended consequence of dramatically reducing the pool of investable assets available to reserve managers. 

Continued growth in Q2 2016 (+15%) brought total H1 gold demand to 2,335t – the second highest first half on record.

This paper reviews the different approaches to gold accounting demonstrated by central banks and discusses the elements of a common approach for central banks.

In this edition, Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England from 2003 to 2013, discusses global economic prospects, the limits of monetary policy and the role of gold in a world dominated by ‘radical uncertainty.’