Central banks bought 800 tons of gold from January to September this year, the highest on record for the nine-month period, according to the World Gold Council.
In its Gold Demand Trends report for the third quarter of the year, the industry group said net buying of bullion by central banks in the first nine months was up 14% year-on-year.
Global gold demand excluding over-the-counter (OTC) trading was 8% ahead of its five-year average in the third quarter, but slipped 6% compared to last year’s all-time-high, the report added.
According to the World Gold Council’s data, China has been the largest buyer of gold this year as part of its 11-month buying streak. Among other notable buyers are Poland, Singapore, Türkiye, Russia, and India.
The increased purchases of gold by emerging economies follow a global trend of central banks moving away from the US dollar as a reserve currency.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) held 21.38 tons of Gold reserves valued at $1.25 billion at the end of 2022, according to its recently released annual financial statement.
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