An interesting slideshow on CNBC.com listing the largest gold reserves by country (or institution). What makes this list even more interesting is aside from the raw value of gold, we also can see how prominent gold is as a percentage of total foreign reserves. This can show not only the discrepancy amongst countries, but if central banks decide to further diversify into gold - how much potential demand there could be to move from say a mid single digit percentage of the yellow metal, to something in say the 20-30% range.
What is striking is how large a proportion of European countries' foreign reserves are in gold (Portugal!), whereas Asians have yet to really make their mark. There was a huge fuss earlier this year when China revealed it had been buying quietly in the background to move up this list, but as a percentage of reserves the amount is still tiny. [Apr 25, 2009: China has Begun Building Gold Reserves] Unfortunately for China, it is very hard for them to make good-sized acquisitions without alerting the entire world, since their footprint is so massive.
I've compiled the data in chart form below, but first, two notes
#1 Of course America does not believe in foreign reserves - so the last column is a big fat "Not Applicable". Far better to spend over your means indefinitely than to have national savings; let the rest of the world save for us.... we excel at the spending part.
#2 The SPDR Gold ETF (GLD) has now grown to such a size that if it were a stand alone country it would now be the 6th largest holder of gold in the world. That's remarkable. Even more remarkable, 1 man - hedge fund manager John Paulson - owns nearly 10% of this gold ETF. [May 16, 2009: John Paulson Continues to Pile into SPDR Gold (GLD)] By the transitive theory, this would make John Paulson, if he was a stand alone country, somewhere in the 16- 20th largest holder of gold.
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| Top 15 | $ Value of | % of |
| Country | Reserves | Reserves |
| United States | $298.4 | N/A |
| Germany | $125.0 | 69.2% |
| International Monetary Fund | $118.0 | N/A |
| Italy | $89.9 | 66.6% |
| France | $89.7 | 70.6% |
| China | $38.7 | 1.9% |
| Switzerland | $38.2 | 29.1% |
| Japan | $28.1 | 2.3% |
| Netherlands | $22.5 | 59.6% |
| Russia | $20.9 | 4.3% |
| European Central Bank | $18.4 | 18.8% |
| Taiwan | $15.5 | 3.9% |
| Portugal | $14.0 | 90.9% |
| India | $13.1 | 4.0% |
| Venezuela | $13.1 | 36.1% |
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This article has 21 comments:
With $2 trillion in the till they're buying foreign stuff before the $2 trillion goes "poof".
On Oct 14 04:42 AM Alan Young wrote:
> I read somewhere that China produces large amounts of gold in its
> domestic mines. If this is true, then obviously it can add to reserves
> without making any ripples on the world market.
Where are the rest of the countries?
Is Canada still have less gold reserve then Bangladesh (one of the poorest country in the world)?
On that list what was the rank of those countries compare to the past list?
I don't think that imbalance is healthy...
Long....Physical Gold & Silver
On Oct 13 08:05 PM Barry Robbins wrote:
> Which of these numbers are actually audited? When were the U.S.
> gold holdings ever audited? Has GLD been audited? If so, then please
> provide a link. Many people have raised doubts about GLD, and whether
> they really just have "paper" gold. If anyone has any "official"
> response, please post here.
IMF gold will be bought as soon as it hits the market, if it hits the market. It might be bought in a back room deal and never see the market or it could just be all talk as so often has been the case. In any case the mere mention of its sell did not effect the market this time to save the shorts.
I would think the shorts are close to being played out. The day they start covering is the week gold hits $2,000.
I would hate to be the last one to cover.
On Oct 14 07:01 AM Vuke wrote:
> China produces about 10M oz/year, or less than 1/100 th of an ounce
> per citizen. If their central bank wants to grow reserves substantially
> they'd have to wait 25 years to reach equality with U.S. reserves
> while allowing no sales in their own market.
>
> With $2 trillion in the till they're buying foreign stuff before
> the $2 trillion goes "poof".
One thing NOT being studied in this article is the official drive in China to encourage its citizens to buy and hold gold - I have heard that the workers can buy gold at any post office, for instance. Given the individual Chinese citizens' penchant for squirreling away savings, this could be a very large amount.
India is another nation that, like China, might have a small percentage of their national reserves in gold, but whose citizens collectively hold enormous amounts (in this case, as a cultural choice). Many muslim nations share this cultural attachment to gold.
On Oct 14 08:36 AM John Galt wrote:
> Look at the percentages for China, Russia and India, 1.9, 4.3 and
> 4.0. Then look at the percentages for the Europe and the USA. <br/>
>
> I don't think that imbalance is healthy...
said the US has leased-out much of its gold reserves".
AS the Fed and Treasury are no longer providing gold reserves data and haven't for some time, does this come as any surprise?
Government has yet to prove its worthiness or trust of the people and under the present ruling politicians, the lights have become dimmer.