The World Gold Council said 45% of central banks surveyed expect to increase
gold holdings over the next 12 months, up 2 percentage points from a year
earlier. The annual survey of 74 central banks (conducted Feb. 5–May 19) found
54% expect holdings to remain unchanged and 1% expect reductions. Most responses
were received after the late‑Feb Middle East conflict that pushed oil higher and
briefly weighed on gold; WGC said the recent price dip has not changed central
banks’ appetite for gold. 93% of respondents now hold gold, versus 81% a year
ago. 90% cited gold’s crisis performance as a key reason for holding; other
drivers were long‑term value storage and portfolio diversification.
Emerging-market and developing-economy respondents (85%) were especially likely
to view gold as a geopolitical‑risk hedge. In the past 12 months, 9% of
respondents increased domestic gold storage (vs. 5% a year ago) and 10%
diversified overseas storage locations (vs. 2%); looking ahead, 7% plan to
increase domestic storage and 9% plan to diversify overseas storage in the next
12 months.
