Jakarta –
China bought a lot of gold over the past year. Apart from the Israeli-Palestinian and Russian-Ukrainian conflicts, China’s actions also pushed up the price of gold on the market.
Quoting DW, Wednesday (10/4), the price of gold was recorded as having reached US$ 2,300 per troy ounce.
This is because gold is seen by the majority of investors as a safe commodity amidst turmoil and potential currency devaluation. Like other central banks, the Central Bank of China, aka the People’s Bank of China (PBC), also increased their gold holdings.
PBC has added to their gold reserves for the 16th consecutive month of decline at the World Gold Council. In 2023, the PBC bought more gold than any other central bank. China’s gold purchases reached 225 metric tons or a quarter of the 1,037 tons purchased by all world central banks.
Meanwhile, in January and February alone, senior EMEA analyst at the World Gold Council Krishan Gopaul said, PBC had increased gold reserves by 22 tonnes. PBC is estimated to store as much as 2,257 tons of gold.
Apart from PBC, Chinese consumers are also known to buy gold in the form of coins, bars and jewelry. This was after their investments in real estate, the yuan currency, and the country’s stock market value plummeted due to the economic crisis the country was facing.
China buys a lot of gold to get rid of dependence on the US dollar. Gold purchases were made to diversify PBC’s foreign exchange reserves.
This diversification effort is also in line with the plans of the BRICS member countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), which are trying to dominate the global economy by 2050.
BRICS has even discussed the idea of a future common currency, which could potentially challenge the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.
(hns/hns)
2024-04-10 05:23:16
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