Central Banks Purchase 270 Tons of Gold in 1st Half of 2022

Central banks bought gold bars during the first half of this year weighing about 270 tons, a 17% increase compared to the same period last year, in which it recorded about 325.2 tons, according to the latest reports of the World Gold Council.

The demand from central banks for gold decreased during the second quarter of this year by 14%, to a record 179.9 tons, compared to the same period last year, in which it recorded about 209.6 tons.

The report indicated that the world's central banks' reserves of gold recorded about 33.18 thousand tons, the report pointed out 40 banks, including 6 Arab banks, with a value of 1.155 tons.

The report pointed out that Saudi Arabia tops the Arab countries in gold reserves, with 323.1 tons, followed by Lebanon, with reserves estimated at 287 tons, then Algeria, which owns 173.6 tons, and Iraq with a share of 130.4 tons.

Egypt came in fifth place with reserves of the precious metal amounted to 125.4 tons, then Libya with about 116.6 tons.

Regarding the global classification, the report showed that the United States tops the list with reserves of 8,133 thousand tons, then Germany with 3,355 thousand tons, then the International Monetary Fund with 2,814 thousand tons, then Italy with 2,451 thousand tons, and France with 2,436 thousand tons.

Russia ranked fifth globally, after excluding the IMF, with gold reserves estimated at 2,298 thousand tons. It is worth mentioning that Russia preceded China in gold reserves, where the latter possesses 1,948 thousand tons and ranks sixth in the world by this indicator.