Central banks around the world purchasing gold has been a major driving force behind this year's record-breaking rise in gold prices, yet central bank officials rarely signal in advance when considering the purchase of gold. On Monday of this week, officials from central banks of countries such as Mexico, Mongolia, and the Czech Republic expressed their support for increasing gold reserves. These officials stated that, due to the combined effects of heightened geopolitical tensions and declining interest rates, the proportion of gold in foreign exchange reserves is more likely to rise in the coming years.
Joaquín Tapia, the head of international reserves at the Bank of Mexico, said: "Considering the environment we are facing now—low interest rates, political tensions, and a lot of uncertainties—perhaps the proportion of gold in our investment portfolio will also increase."
Enkhjin Atarbaatar, the director of the financial market department at the Central Bank of Mongolia, and Marek Sestak, the deputy executive director of the risk management department at the Czech National Bank, also agreed. These three officials spoke at the annual industry conference held by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) in Miami.
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Atarbaatar said: "For Mongolia, I expect the reserves to continue growing, and I also anticipate that the share of gold in the reserves may increase in the future."
Sestak responded: "I completely agree as well."
So far this year, gold has surged by more than 25%, outperforming U.S. stocks and bonds, and has been climbing to historical highs. This rise has been partly due to the unprecedented gold purchases by major central banks, as reserve management officials view gold as a safe-haven asset to protect national wealth from geopolitical and economic uncertainties.
Gold prices have climbed to historical highs.
Terrence Keeley, former executive at BlackRock and CEO of Impact Evaluation Lab, stated that, on average, 15% of central banks' foreign exchange reserves are precious metals by market valuation.
The World Gold Council recently published an article stating that global central bank gold demand slowed in August 2024, with net gold purchases of about 8 tons. Although the overall gold demand from global central banks has retreated from the high point at the beginning of 2024, it remains positively growing.