Over the past couple of months, there has been some interesting Central Bank activity with regards to its gold reserves management.
- Malta
Malta's gold reserves sank to a 23-year low in July this year, the Central Bank's latest figures show, leaving the country with one less safeguard that can ease financial pressures on the government's purse in times of crisis.
In January, Malta's gold reserves were valued at E3.2 million. By July, most of those reserves were sold off, leaving Malta's central bank with just E82,384 in gold reserves, the lowest since at least 1999.
- Iraq
CBI Deputy Governor, Ammar Khalaf, told the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that gold reserves have increased by about 30 tons, to more than 131 tons.
- Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan has sold 19 tons of gold worth of around $1.1 billion in 2021 to unnamed EU country as report published on August 24, 2022.
- Venezuela
The Venezuelan central bank's gold reserves dropped by six tonnes as of June 2022, according to the bank's first-half balance sheet.
The quantity of gold bars in the bank's vaults at the end of the first half of the year was equivalent to 73 tonnes, the lowest in 50 years.
The value of gold reserves as of June this year was $4.329 billion.
- United Arab Emirates
The value of UAE central bank's gold reserve rose by 1.63 percent - or
AED194 million ($52.8 million) - in the first five months of this year.
The total value of the reserve of the yellow metal with the Central Bank of UAE has reached AED12.107 billion by end of May, compared with AED11.913 billion by end of December 2021.
Typically, Central Banks sell their gold to boost their FX reserves. In contrast buying happens for diversifying their portfolio of assets to hedge against FX fluctuations. In addition buying is also prompted by adding reserves as a percentage of the country's GDP.
An important part of arriving to such decisions to sell or buy, requires an efficient gold reserves management policy.
This is managed by external reserves management consultancies in terms of advisory and discreet trades.
Contact us to learn more about gold reserves management.
