Submitted by Taps Coogan on the 31st of May 2019 to The Sounding Line.

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The following article comes via the cost estimation website HowMuch.net, with some minor changes:

In 2010, the world’s central banks stopped being net sellers of gold and started accumulating it. As gold provides a hedge against economic uncertainty and currency manipulation, the action of these central banks gives us insight as to which countries are most capable of handling an economic storm.

• Data from Gold.org – courtesy of the International Monetary Fund’s International Financial Statistics – shows that the U.S. has by far the world’s largest official gold reserves, followed by Germany and the IMF. Two rivals of the U.S., Russia and China, come in 6th and 7th, respectively.
• Both Russia and China top the list of the most aggressive gold buyers since 2014. 
• Although China is the world’s largest producer of gold, its overall gold stores have been anemic compared to its competitors, especially as it relates to total economy size. Nonetheless, there is a great deal of speculation that China’s true gold reserves may be much higher than their official statistics suggest.
• Recently, the price of gold has moved up, especially as trade talks between the U.S. and China have put some fear into the markets and sent investors looking for safe havens.

A common theme in economics is “those who own the gold make the rules.” Recent statistics suggest a large disparity between the top gold holders in the world and those governments holding less of the yellow metal.

The World’s Top Gold Owners

1. United States – 8,133 tonnes – $373,430,444,426
2. Germany – 3,369 tonnes – $154,711,817,616
3. IMF – 2,814 tonnes – $129,198,164,458
4. Italy – 2,451 tonnes – $112,568,606,829
5. France – 2,436 tonnes – $111,843,187,142
6. Russia – 2,168 tonnes – $99,552,373,843
7. China – 1,885 tonnes – $86,568,279,703

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