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  • Central banks round off 2022 with more net purchases in December

    • Central banks round off 2022 with more net purchases in December

    2 February, 2023

    In December, central banks have reported adding a net 28t of gold to global reserves, down sharply (53%) from the previous month (60t).1 This is the ninth consecutive month of net reported additions, as central banks have resumed the trend of consistent buying which wavered at the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022. The available data – only about 50% of banks have reported data for December at the time of writing –shows that two large purchases were partially offset by one chunky sale.

     

    Central banks resumed trend of consistent monthly net buying during 2022* 

    Monthly net central bank gold demand in tonnes

    <p class="small-text">*Data to 31 December 2022.<br>Source: IMF IFS, Respective Central Banks, World Gold Council</p>

    *Data to 31 December 2022.
    Source: IMF IFS, Respective Central Banks, World Gold Council

    The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) reported the largest increase in gold reserves during the month. The bank bought a further 30t, following on from the 32t it added in November. It’s gold reserves now total 2,011t (4% of total reserves). We will continue to wait and see w hether further purchases are reported by the PBoC in the coming months.

    The Central Bank of Türkiye (Turkey) continued its consistent buying in December, adding another 25t to its swelling official gold reserves. 2 This brings full year  net purchases to just shy of 150t, surpassing the 126t it bought in 2019 and the largest reported by any central bank in 2022. Its gold reserves now total 542t (28% of total reserves). The Reserve Bank of India also bought again in December, with gold reserves rising by 1t to 787t, while Croatia added 2t after having not reported any gold reserves since 2001.

    The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) was the largest reported seller in December, its gold reserves dropped by 29t – the largest monthly decline on record.3 For 2022 as a whole, the NBK reduced its gold reserves by 51t to 352t (58% of total reserves). The Central Bank of Uzbekistan was also a net seller for the second consecutive month, reducing its gold reserves by just over 1t. It  remains a net purchaser over the whole of 2022, increasing its holdings by 34t to 396t (62% of total reserves). It is not uncommon for central banks who purchase gold from domestic sources – as both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan do – also to be frequent sellers of gold.

    2022 was a remarkable year for central bank demand for gold. While we continued to see robust demand for gold from emerging market central banks, the volume of activity – buying in particular – has been noteworthy.4 To read our review of central bank gold demand in 2022, and our outlook for 2023, please see our recently published Gold Demand Trends Full Year and Q4 2022  report.

    Footnotes

    1Our data set is based on IMF data but is supplemented with data from respective central banks where it is available and not reported through the IMF at the time of publication. This data may be revised in our next monthly update should more data become available.

    2IMF data for Kazakhstan gold reserves is available back to December 1993.

    3We provide two separate sources for central bank data and depending on which data set one refers to for their data, the results may differ. The source for our Gold Demand Trends publication is primarily Metals Focus, who make their own estimates of official sector activity incorporating what is reported to the IMF. While the source for the monthly central bank statistics is the IMF IFS statistics (supplemented with data directly from central bank websites where needed and available). Both data sets are subject to revision as new information is made available. The IMF IFS data is also subject revision as official sector institutions continue to update, revise, and report their holdings. Most institutions will report their data on a regular basis, which means our data is up to date with a two-month lag. However, very often institutions will be late in reporting and not report their updated gold holdings for several months. In these cases, gold purchases and sales will be reported with a significant delay due mostly to the late reporting of the central bank. Sometimes Metals Focus has insight on these purchases as they are happening in the market and may therefore already have this incorporated in their numbers, and therefore not require a revision. 

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