Gold Purchases by Central Banks Hit New Peak in First Half 2019

SEATTLE (Aug 5)  The Q2 Demand Trends Report published by the World Gold Council (WGC) denotes robust gold buying by central banks across the world. The gold purchases by central banks and other institutions hit highest level during the initial six months of 2019.

According to WGC Report, central bank net gold purchases totaled 224.4t in Q2 this year, which is significantly higher by 47% upon comparison with the corresponding quarter a year before. It must be noted that purchases had totaled only 152.8t in Q2 last year. The largest purchaser of gold during the quarter was Poland, which added 100t to its gold reserves. The purchases hit the highest levels since 2010 during H1 2019 to total 374.1t, registering year-on-year growth of 57%.

WGC report notes that nine central banks reported gold purchases in excess of a tonne in the first half of 2019. The 100t purchase by Poland in Q2 ’19 is the highest quarterly purchase by a single central bank since India’s purchase of 200 tonnes from IMF in 2009. The Russian gold reserves witnessed addition of 38.7t in Q2 alone, thereby taking the year-to-date purchases to 94t. Also, Chinese gold reserves recorded a growth of 74t in H1 2019.

The Turkish gold purchases totaled 60.6 in Jan-June ’19, whereas Kazakhstan added 24.9t to its gold reserves. The other central banks to report notable increase in gold holdings were India (17.7t), Ecuador (10.6t) and Colombia (6.1t).

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