Central banks top up gold reserves

Central banks have used gold's recent plunge to top up their holdings of the precious metal.
By Garry White, and Emma Rowley
The Telegraph
Oct. 31, 2011

Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Thailand spent a collective $1.52bn (Ł942m) buying 26.7 tons of gold. However, the Mexican central bank was a seller, reducing its holding by 0.1 ton, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Thailand's gold reserves rose 11pc to 152.41 tons and Bolivia's bullion reserves increased 17pc to 49.34 tons. Bolivia increased its holdings by 5pc to tons and Tajikistan's bullion stockpile increased 26pc to 4.74 tons.

Over the past 20 years, central banks have been reducing their holdings of the precious metal, but concerns about paper money and global debt has turned them into net buyers. Also, the gold price has increased every year for the past 11 years. The price is up 23pc in the year to date, closing at $1,743.75 an ounce on Friday.

"Central banks, especially in emerging markets, have been diversifying their gold reserves," said Michael Widmer, head of metals research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. "We would expect this to continue as gold can have a positive impact on smoothing the risk-return profile of reserve portfolios."

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