World Gold Council: Global central banks continue to increase gold purchases in January.

The World Gold Council has stated that in January 2024, global official gold reserves increased by 39 tons; Turkey and China once again became the two largest official gold buyers in the world, with other central banks showing almost no significant selling. The driving factors supporting central bank gold demand continue to play a role, sometimes even strengthening, and may provide further support for central bank demand in 2024. According to the latest data released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as of the end of January 2024, global official gold reserves totaled 35,938.6 tons. Of this, the Eurozone (including the European Central Bank) totaled 10,771.5 tons, accounting for 56.4% of its total foreign exchange reserves. In addition, the latest data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange shows that the gold reserves of the People's Bank of China reached 2,257.5 tons at the end of February, an increase of about 12.2 tons from the end of January. The World Gold Council stated that central bank gold purchases in 2023 were the second highest on record, slightly below the historical record set in 2022. The performance of global central banks has attracted more attention, as central bank gold demand has become a key driver of outstanding gold performance. Of course, people are not only concerned with what has already happened, but also focused on future situations: Will central banks continue to buy gold, and if so, for what reasons and how much will they increase their reserves? According to data released by central banks around the world, global official gold reserves increased by 39 tons in January, more than double the net gold purchase volume of 17 tons (revised) in December last year, and also the eighth consecutive month of net gold purchases by global central banks. In January, six central banks increased their official gold reserves by one ton or more, all of which had purchased gold multiple times recently: The Central Bank of Turkey was the largest gold buyer this month, purchasing 12 tons of gold, increasing its official gold reserves to 552 tons, only 6% less than the historical high of 587 tons in February 2023. The People's Bank of China increased its gold reserves by 10 tons in January, marking the 15th consecutive month of gold accumulation; currently, its total gold reserves amount to 2,245 tons, nearly 300 tons higher than when the increase began in late October 2022. The Reserve Bank of India purchased nearly 9 tons of gold this month, marking its first increase in gold reserves since October 2023, and the largest increase since July 2022; its gold reserves now total 812 tons. The National Bank of Kazakhstan purchased 6 tons of gold this month, marking its first monthly net gold purchase since January 2023. The Central Bank of Jordan purchased 3 tons of gold in January, marking the second consecutive month of gold accumulation and increasing its gold reserves to 75 tons. The Czech National Bank increased its gold reserves by nearly 2 tons this month, marking the 11th consecutive month of net gold purchases; during this period, its gold reserves have surged from 12 to over 32 tons (+170%). Global central banks had limited gold sales in January, with the only notable selling activity coming from the Central Bank of Russia (CBR); this month, the bank's gold reserves decreased by 3 tons, following the pattern seen since 2021: selling 3 tons several times, then increasing reserves by a similar scale. We believe this is related to Russia's minting plans. The gold buying activity of global central banks in January also confirms our expectations that 2024 is likely to be another strong year for central bank gold demand. Since 2010, central banks around the world (especially those in emerging markets) have shown long-term strategic gold accumulation. The World Gold Council points out that last year, central banks around the world highly valued the attributes of gold in crisis response, risk diversification, and wealth preservation. As we enter 2024, global uncertainty does not seem to have diminished, meaning the reasons for holding gold mentioned above still apply. Diagram 2: To what extent do your organization's gold holding decisions relate to the following factors?