Net gold purchases by central banks totalled 35.8 t in May, 27% lower month-on-month, but net purchases in the year to date, at 247.3 t, are 73% higher year-on-year, the World Gold Council (WGC) reports.
WGC market intelligence director Alistair Hewitt on Monday pointed out that central banks in several emerging markets, including Russia, China, Turkey and Kazakhstan, continued to dominate buying, with those banks being “the four biggest buyers so far” this year.
Kazakhstan’s central bank has bought in excess of 25 t of gold over the last six years, peaking last year at 50.6 t. To date this year, the bank has bought 20.5 t of gold.
To date this year, China has bought 63.8 t of gold, while Turkey’s central bank, which started buying gold outright in May 2017, bought about 49.3 t of gold, so far this year.
Russia, meanwhile, has bought 77.1 t of gold in the year to date.
Other central banks that have increased their gold purchases since 2016 include Uzbekistan, Serbia, the Kyrgyz Republic, India, Hungary, Greece, Egypt, Colombia and Belarus.