According to preliminary data from the World Gold Council (WGC), in November 2022, the central banks of the world purchased 49.7 tons of gold in gold and foreign exchange reserves. The largest buyer among all countries was China, which increased stocks by 32 tons. Moreover, before that, the People's Bank of China had not reported a change in the volume of gold in reserves for three years, and in December, according to the State Administration of Currency Control, it purchased another 0.97 million ounces, that is, about 30 tons. Turkey increased its gold reserves by 19.3 tons in November, making it the largest official buyer in 2022 (122.8 tons in 11 months). Kyrgyzstan was in third place and bought 3.3 tons of precious metal. The main sellers of gold in November were Kazakhstan (3.7 tons) and Uzbekistan (1.6 tons). It is worth noting that the WGC calculates monthly gold purchases by central banks based on data from the International Monetary Fund, and quarterly – based on Metals Focus estimates. At the same time, the figures differ significantly. Previously, the WGC estimated total purchases in the I-III quarters at 673 tons – this is more than the annual figures for many years. At the same time, for months in total in January-September, it turns out 2-3 times less. The WGC explains this by significant volumes of purchases, which are not officially reported.
