30.01.2023/ Gold plays an important part in central banks’ reserves management. At the end of 2021, the central banks held 35,516 tonnes of gold as part of their foreign currency reserves.
The total gold reserves in 2022 were also at a record level 36,745.8 tonnes, unprecedented in the history of gold reserves. Even in 1970, during the gold standard modified by the Bretton Woods Agreement, global gold reserves were at a lower 36,606 tonnes and declined significantly in the decades following, until sharply resurging in the 2010s.
The importance central banks attach to gold as a hedge against inflation and store of value is evident in absolute gold holdings and purchases as well as their share in a country’s total foreign currency reserves.
The United States top the list, with 65.9% of its total reserves consisting of gold, corresponding to 8,133.5 tonnes, followed by European countries such as Germany with 64.9% or 3,355.1 tonnes, Italy with a gold share of 62.2% of total reserves, which corresponds to 2,451.8 tonnes, and France with 2,436.8 tonnes or a gold share of 57%, China 1,948.3 tonnes.
The highest share of gold in foreign currency reserves worldwide is held by the Portuguese central bank with 69.6%, which, however, amounts to a comparatively modest 382.6 tonnes. The Gold Reserves in Poland total 228.67 tonnes.
Source: World Gold Council
