Strongest Q1 gold reserve purchases ever

The central banks’ gold buying spree continues unabated: after record gold reserve purchases in the last two years, the first quarter of 2024 turns out to be the strongest ever. Despite significant gold sales by the central banks of Thailand and Uzbekistan, global gold reserves increased by 280 tonnes over the first three months of this year – topping the five-year average by 69 per cent. Global gold reserves have therefore risen for the 14th year in a row, a development which is unprecedented since the first publication of gold reserve holdings by the World Gold Council.

Largest gold reserve expansions again in the Middle and Far East

With some 30 tonnes, Turkey undertook the highest increase in gold reserves in the first quarter of 2024, with net purchases for eight months in a row. The People’s Bank of China has been even more consistent, increasing its gold reserves for a consecutive 17 months and now storing 2,262 tonnes of the precious metal in its vaults. However, gold currently only accounts for 4.6 per cent of China’s total foreign currency reserves, which means that the policy of the People’s Bank of China in terms of buying gold could well continue. India has been the third-strongest buyer of gold in Q1 2024 with 18.51; Kazakhstan the fourth-strongest with 16.39 tonnes. In Europe, the Czech Republic and Poland also increased their gold reserves.

Record years of 2022 and 2023 might well be followed up by another

While global gold reserve purchases were still slightly below 80 tonnes in 2010, they broke through the 1,000-tonne mark for the first time in the last two years. 2022 was the record year to date with net purchases of 1,082 tonnes, closely followed by 2023 with 1,037 tonnes. This means that global gold reserves have increased by more than 7,800 tonnes since 2010. The first few months of the current year certainly suggest that gold reserve purchases in the four-digit tonne range are again possible in 2024.