Uzbekistan increases purchasing of gold

Uzbekistan has ramped up its gold reserves by 19 tons since January 2022. This is ranked fifth among all other countries, according to Gold.org.

«This means that net purchases of gold reached 19 tons since the beginning of the year. Now, the total gold reserves of Uzbekistan is about 381 tons,» the report said.

Among other countries that have shown fasterst rates of purchasing gold are Turkey, Egypt, Iraq and India. 

Turkey is the biggest buyer of gold this year. Since January this country has bought 84 tons of precious metal. The current volume of Turkish gold reserves is 478 tons. This is the highest level since the second quarter of 2020.

For comparison, Kazakhstan sold 11 tons of gold in July and bought just two tons in August. The government reported it currently possesses 375 tons of gold, 28 tons less than in January.

The shrinking of gold reserves is a global trend as the vast majority of central banks across the globe prefer not to buy it. In August they bought about 20 tons on average. This is half as much quantity as in previous months.

According to the State Committee for Statistics of Uzbekistan, in the first quarter, the country earned $2.97 billion by exporting gold. However, as of August Uzbekistan has not exported gold for five months in a row.