Official gold purchases reached a new record in 2018 as central banks continued to diversify away from the U.S. Dollar. Not only was 2018 a banner year for central bank gold purchases, but it was also the highest amount for more than five decades. Central banks haven’t bought this much gold in one year since Nixon ended the convertibility of the U.S. Dollar into gold in 1971.

According to the World Gold Council 2018 Yearend Gold Demand Trends, Russia funded most of the 274 metric tons (mt) of its official gold purchases with sales of its U.S. Treasury holdings.Furthermore, the next two countries with the largest increase in gold acquisitions in 2018 were Turkey with 51.5 mt and Kazakhstan at 50.6 mt.

These three central banks accounted for 58% of the total gold purchases last year. However, the World Gold Counc ... Read more »