China expands gold reserves at Central Bank for fifth month
China boosted its gold reserves for a fifth straight month, extending efforts by the world’s central banks to boost their holdings of the precious metal.
The People’s Bank of China raised its holdings by about 18 tons in March, according to data on its website on Friday. Total stockpiles now sit at about 2,068 tons, after growing by about 102 tons in the four months before March.
Nations have been building up stockpiles of bullion amid heightened geopolitical risks and high inflation. Central-bank demand rose for a second year in 2022, and the biggest buyers in January of this year were Turkey, China and Kazakhstan, according to the World Gold Council.
Last month’s purchases extend the first wave of purchases by China’s central bank since a ten-month run that ended in September 2019. Prior to that, the last string of purchases ended in late-2016.
Meanwhile, China’s end-March foreign currency reserves rose to $3.1839 trillion, up by $50.7 billion from the month before, the data showed.
