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Gold’s scarcity and durability positions it as the perfect monetary asset hence the race by central banks and institutions to stock up their piles.
The race to increase gold reserves has seen ten top global economies take the lead by amassing gold reserves almost half the size of the global tally.
Data investigated and calculated by Buyshares.co.uk shows that 49.37% of the global gold reserves are under the control of ten countries.
Globally, the total gold reserves stand at 1.85 billion ounces while the top ten countries cumulatively hold 913.29 million ounces in gold.
The United States leads the way with 286.86 million ounces or 15.5% of the total global gold reserves.
Germany has the second-highest gold reserves at 188.63 million ounces which represent 6.4% of the global reserve.
Among institutions, the International Monetary Fund occupies the first spot but third when compared to countries with 99.24 million ounces, accounting for 5.3% of the global reserve.
Italy’s gold reserves of 86.47 million ounces make up 4.7% of the world total reserves while France occupies the fifth spot with 85.91 million ounces in gold reserves or 4.6% of the worldwide tally.
Investigation revealed that Russia has the sixth-highest gold reserves at 80.89 million ounces or 4.3% of the worldwide cumulative reserves.
China accounts for 3.8% at 69.54 million ounces while Switzerland lies in the seventh spot with 36.67 million ounces or 1.9% of the global total gold reserves.
Japan’s 26.96 million ounces places it in the ninth spot to account for 1.5% of the global reserves.
India lies in the tenth spot with 22.11 million ounces accounting for 1.2% of the global gold reserves.
Research also investigated and calculated the number of ounces held by other precious metals globally. From the data, lithium holds the top spot with 492.37 billion ounces in global reserves. As of June 2020, silver had the second-highest reserves globally at 19.3 billion ounces.
Gold occupies the third spot at 1.85 billion ounces in reserves followed by palladium at 1.21 billion ounces. Among the top five precious metals, platinum has the least reserves at 1 billion.
Historically, gold has been known to be a safe haven for investors since it has the ability to weather any financial storms hence governments are in a race to stock up their piles.
Although the United States continues to hold the largest gold reserves, there has been a shift. In the last five years, China and Russia have emerged as the top buyers of gold to rank in the top ten categories.
With the recent trade war between the United States and China, the price of gold has increased. Most investors have been uncertain about the economic future of each country’s economies. As a result gold demand has been high.
Central governments might continue to stock up gold in their reserves due to the profound uncertainty that emerged as an impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
With the stock market witnessing all-time lows, central banks view gold as the perfect option to guard the economy in the event of a similar crisis in the future.
(Justinas Baltrusaitis – Buy Shares)
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