CBRT became the central bank that bought the most gold in January
According to the World Gold Council (WGC) report, central banks’ gold demand for 2023 continued from where it left off in 2022.
Central banks collectively increased their global gold reserve purchases by 16 percent on a monthly basis in January, purchasing 31 tons net. This figure was in line with the purchase range of 20-60 tons in the last 10 months.
It was observed that the activity of central banks was relatively concentrated in certain regions throughout the month. In January, only three banks made 44 tons of gross purchases, while one bank offset this with 12 tons of sales.
Turkey became the clear winner with 23 tons of purchases.
According to WGC’s data, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT), which was the largest buyer in 2022, was also the largest gold buyer in January. The CBRT increased its reserves to 565 tons by purchasing 23 tons of gold in January.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) also increased its reserves to 2 thousand 25 tons by purchasing 15 tons of gold on top of the 62 tons of gold it had realized between November and December 2022. PBOC’s gold reserves account for 3.7 percent of total reserves.
The Central Bank of Kazakhstan, on the other hand, increased its gold reserves by 4 tons to 356 tons in January.
It was noted that the European Central Bank reported a 2-ton increase in its reserves for January, and this was not a direct purchase by the bank. It was stated that this figure was purchased by Croatia, which adopted the currency of the union, for the transfer of necessary gold. Croatia bought 2 tons in December.
The Central Bank of Uzbekistan, on the other hand, became the only central bank to balance these purchases by selling 12 tons of gold reserves in January. While the bank’s gold assets are 384 tons, this corresponds to 66 percent of the total reserves.
