Central banks bought the most gold in 2022

Central banks around the world added a whopping 1,136 tons of gold worth some US$70 billion to their stockpiles in 2022, by far the most of any year since 1967, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Tuesday.

The data underlines a shift in attitudes to gold since the 1990s and 2000s, when central banks, particularly those in Western Europe that own a lot of bullion, sold hundreds of tons a year.

Since the financial crisis of 2008-09, European banks stopped selling and a growing number of emerging economies such as Russia, Turkey and India have bought.

Buying dipped during the coronavirus pandemic but accelerated in the second half of 2022, with central banks purchasing 862 tons between July and December 2022, according to the WGC.

Banks including those of Turkey, China, Egypt and Qatar said they bought gold last year. But around two-thirds of the gold bought by central banks last year was not reported publicly, the WGC said.

Banks that have not regularly published information about changes in their gold stockpiles include those of China and Russia.

"Central bank buying in 2023 is unlikely to match 2022 levels," the WGC said.

"Lower total reserves may constrain the capacity to add to existing allocations. But lagged reporting by some central banks means that we need to apply a high degree of uncertainty to our expectations, predominantly to the upside."

The central bank purchases took total gold global gold demand last year to 4,741 tons, up 18% from 2021 and the highest for any year since 2011.