In the last fortnight we heard that central banks continue quietly to buy gold according to the IMF
Russia bought 16.55 tonnes in March. Mexico bought 16.81 tonnes in March. Turkey bought 11.48 tonnes in March. Argentina bought 7 tonnes in March. Kazakhstan bought 4.3 tonnes in March.
Other central banks bought smaller amounts. A total of 12 central banks were buyers. We have no reason to believe that this well-established trend will change. Inscrutable China does not report its purchases because it uses a separate Chinese agency to do so, which last handed over 600 tonnes in 2009. Expect the next handover in two years' time.
Gold investors should weigh this feature of the gold market very heavily as this emphasizes the monetary aspect of gold, which is completely different to any other type of demand.
Central banks see gold as a very important reserves asset. This means that when a nation is facing extreme situations, the one asset that they can use as acceptable international money is gold.