The Turkish central bank has been the top gold buyer among its global peers so far this year, according to data from the World Gold Council (WGC).
The Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) bought around 9 tons of gold in August, the WGC said Thursday, increasing its total purchases to 84 tons year-to-date,
This brought its official gold reserves (central bank plus treasury holdings) to 478 tons, the highest level since the second quarter of 2020, the data showed.
Meanwhile, global central bank net purchases of gold slowed to 20 tons in August, halving month-over-month, Krishan Gopaul, a senior analyst at WGC for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), said in a blog. It marked the fifth consecutive month of net purchases from the central banking sector.
“Gold-related activity among central banks was muted in August; only a handful of banks meaningfully contributed to the overall monthly total,” Gopaul said.
The CBRT was among three central banks that published an increase to their gold reserves by a ton or more, while there were no notable sellers by the same measure in the available data.
Uzbekistan also added 9 tons to its reserves in August, the same amount as the previous two months. This brings its year-to-date net purchases to over 19 tons despite having begun the year by selling almost 25 tons in the first quarter. Its gold reserves now total over 381 tons, or 59% of total reserves.
Following a reduction of 11 tons in July, Kazakhstan switched to net purchases in August, lifting its gold holdings by two tons. Its total gold reserves are now just shy of 375 tons, down almost 28 tons since the start of the year.
Preliminary data published by the Qatar Central Bank suggested a further addition to its gold reserves during August. Yet the precise increase has not yet been reported in the IMF IFS database, Gopaul said. If confirmed, it would mark the fifth consecutive month in which Qatar’s official gold reserves have risen. Total gold reserves stood at 72 tons at the end of July, up 16 tons, or 27%, since the start of the year.
