Gold purchases by central banks at record high in Jul-Sep, says WGC

Mumbai: Central banks around the globe accumulated 400 tn of gold in the Jul-Sep quarter, much more than the 180 tn of gold they had bought in the Apr-Jun quarter, taking the net purchases in 2022 to date to 673 tn, the World Gold Council said in a report.

The pace of accumulation of gold by global central banks was the fastest since 1967, it said. "This is the largest single quarter of demand from this sector in our records back to 2000, and almost double the previous record of 241 tn in Jul-Sep 2018," said WGC.

The scorching inflation around the world boosted demand for gold as an inflation hedge asset.

"The level of official sector demand in the third quarter is the combination of steady reported purchases by central banks and a substantial estimate for unreported buying," WGC said.

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey was the biggest gold buyer in the September quarter, accumulating 31.2 tn of gold, followed by the Central Bank of Uzbekistan which bought 26 tn of the yellow metal.

The Reserve Bank of India bought 13 tn of gold in July and 4 tn in September, pushing its reserves to 785 tn, according to the WGC. In August, RBI's gold reserves remained unchanged. India has the tenth-largest official gold holdings in the world.

The WGC expects gold purchases by central banks to continue in the Oct-Dec quarter, although at a slower pace. "Central bank demand continues to outpace expectations, which leads us to factor in further upside potential ahead," it said.

With inputs from agencies