Gold is one of the most sought after precious stones. It has made many people , kingdoms , and emperors very rich over the centuries. It is one of the minerals that had been mined for thousands of years , yet it is still found in abundance in the earth’s bowels.
According to usfunds.com , beginning in 2010 central banks around the world turned from being net sellers of gold to being net buyers of gold . World Gold Council (WGC) also stated on their website that central banks bought 5.019 tonnes of gold in the last decade alone .
Now let’s see which countries has the most processed gold in reserve . And we wonder why no African country is featured on the list while there is a significant amount of gold that is mined in Africa. Or if you can dig it you don’t need to keep it ?
6 China
Tonnes 1,948.3
It was in the summer of 2015 when the People’s Bank of China began sharing its monthly gold purchasing activities since 2009.
The country has been on the buying spree of gold since 2018 . The country is among the top producers of gold in the world.
5 Russia
Tonnes 2,299.9
The Russia central bank has been the Biggest buyer of this precious mineral for the past seven years , according to IMF.
The country overtook China in 2018 , to have fifth largest reserves in the world. In its effort to divesify away from the US dollar Russia has purchased about 224 tonnes of bullion , after the relationship soured due to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
3 France
Tonnes 2,436.0
France’s central bank has been selling its gold little by little over the past few years, but there are calls to stop the selling altogether.
According to the BBC , Marine Le Pen’s National Front party has led the calls to freeze the selling as well as repatriating all the country’s gold that is stored in foreign vaults.
2 Italy
Tonnes 2,451.8
With its support from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi , Italy has maintained the size of its gold reserves over the years .
When Mr Draghi , who is former Italy’s central bank governor was asked by a reporter in 2013 about the importance of gold in central bank’s portfolio , he answered that the metal was a “reserve of safety” adding that “it gives you a fairly good protection against the flacuations against the dollar.
Germany
Tonnes 3,363.6
An operation designed to repatriate all its gold from the Banque de France and the Federal Bank of New York was completed in 2017 , four years after it was started.
A total of 674 tonnes of gold was moved in the process . When the moving of gold was first announced in 2013 , it was expected to be concluded in 2020 .
1 United States
Tonnes 8, 133.5
America has the largest gold holdings in the whole world. It’s huge reserves almost equals those of the next three countries combined . According yo the official US government website , most of the country’s gold is stored at Fort Knox in Kentucky.
There are also other notable storage facilities which held a significant amount of bullion , like Philadelphia Mint , Denver Mint , San Francisco Assay Office and West Point Bullion Depository.
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