China’s gold reserves
There is a huge rise in the prices of gold these days in the world. Many central banks of the world are increasing their gold reserves in the midst of global tension. India is also included in these. But, China is at the top in terms of buying gold. But now the question is why is China buying so much gold? The main reason behind this is to improve the economy of the country or is there any plan to leave America behind? Let us understand this in detail.
China has bought a large amount of gold this year, but official data shows very little purchase. It is estimated that China has so far purchased about 240 tonnes of gold, while officially it has purchased only 24 tonnes. According to the government, China has 2,304 tonnes of gold reserves, but it is believed that the actual reserves are many times more than this.
According to Goldman Sachs report, China bought 15 tons of gold in September, but it has shown only 1.5 tons in the records. That means the actual purchase was 10 times more. Even in April, China took 27 tonnes of gold, which is 13 times more than the official figures. October records show purchases of only 0.9 tonnes, taking the total gold reserves to 2,304.5 tonnes. Five countries in the world have more gold than China.
America’s gold reserves
America, the world’s largest economy, has the highest gold reserve of 8,133 tonnes. Of America’s total foreign reserves, 78% is gold only. There has not been much change in it in the last 25 years. Germany is at second place which has 3,350 tonnes of gold. Italy has 2,452 tonnes of gold, France has 2,437 tonnes and Russia has 2,330 tonnes of gold. After this comes China’s turn.
The size of China’s total foreign reserves is $3.34 trillion, of which gold accounts for only 7%, while the world average is 22%. In 2009, an official of the China Gold Association had said that China should keep at least 5,000 tonnes of gold reserve. If this happens, China will become the country with the second largest gold reserves in the world after America. Experts say that if China wants to become the world’s number one economy in the coming decades, it should have 8,000 tons or more of gold. China seems to be moving towards this. However, it will be very difficult to leave America behind.