The Central Bank of Uzbekistan will hold a mid-September roundtable with
international asset managers including Goldman Sachs, BlackRock and JP Morgan to
explore investment options for its FX reserves. Official data show reserves fell
from $66.3bn at the start of the year to $64.3bn in July, with gold comprising
87% of holdings; the World Gold Council says Uzbekistan net bought 41 tonnes of
gold in 1H, the second-largest global buyer. The central bank said gold has been
its best-performing holding but warned gold prices will not only rise
indefinitely, has made no decision to change reserve composition and would only
sell gold at favorable price levels; the meeting may not lead to any shift in
the reserve mix.
