Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict last year, Western countries have imposed a wide range of financial sanctions on Russia, including freezing the assets of the Russian central bank worth about 300 billion U.S. dollars. However, the Russian central bank's gold reserves are not directly within the scope of the sanctions, as they are stored directly in Russia.
This has contributed to a phenomenon: in the past year, non-Western countries have bought gold on a large scale.
According to the World Gold Council, the People's Bank of China bought 62 mt of gold in November and December 2022, raising its total gold reserves to more than 2,000 mt for the first time. Turkey's official gold reserves increased by 148 mt in 2022 to 542 mt. In addition, countries in the Middle East and Central Asia are also listed as "active buyers" of gold by the World Gold Council.
John Reade, chief market strategist at the World Gold Council, said the Russia-Ukraine conflict had many non-Western countries rethinking what kind of international reserves they should hold.
