Central Banks are on a Gold Shopping Spree
Central Banks Continue Agressive Acquistions of Gold
The world’s central banks were aggressive gold buyers in 2018, according to a new World Gold Council report. The banks’ gold acquisitions jumped an astonishing 74 percent over the year before.
Altogether central banks added 651.5 metric tons to their official gold reserves in 2018, according to the WGC.
Driven in part by the central bank buying, the most in 50 years, overall gold demand jumped 4 percent for the year,
Alistair Hewitt, the WGC Head of Market Intelligence, summed up the findings:
“Gold demand rose in 2018 and, although the US dollar gold price was down 1% over the year, it outperformed many other financial assets. Worries about a slowdown in global growth, heightened geopolitical tensions, and financial market volatility saw central bank demand hit its highest level since Nixon closed the gold window in 1971, the volume of gold in European-listed ETFs reach a record high, and annual coin demand leap 26 percent.”
Demand for gold ramped up dramatically toward the end of the year. Zeroing in on the last quarter of 2018, October-November-December, the WGC reports, “Overall demand increased 16 percent in Q4 21018, compared with Q4 2017, while total investment demand grew 35 percent Q4 2018 from Q4 2017.”
“I don’t see any of the risks that investors and central banks are worried about fading anytime soon and I expect gold to remain an attractive hedge in 2019,” said Hewitt.
The world’s central bankers are much more aware of the dollar and debt problems of the United States than are most American citizens. They are taking steps to reduce their chances of being fleeced by fundamentally dishonest Federal Reserve practices. Few Americans are taking the same kind of steps.
Our professional RME Gold brokers believe that educating as many Americans as possible is part of our job. If you have family members, friends, and colleagues that would like to learn why central bankers around the world are moving aggressively into gold, we can be of help. Have them contact an RME broker right away.
