<Anchor>

friendly economic reporter Kwon Aeri is listed. Kwon, today (11th) we have prepared a story about gold. Not a few money, but tens of tons, where is the big hand that buys gold like this, the unit is so big?

<Reporter>
Central banks around the
world. Singapore bought another 69 tonnes in the first quarter of this year alone, while China bought another 58 tonnes.

At current prices, Singapore bought a whopping 5.9 trillion won worth of gold in the first quarter alone, and China bought 5 trillion won worth of gold.

Turkiye, India and the Czech Republic were among the biggest gold buyers in the first quarter.

You may be wondering if the original countries are buying some gold and putting it on the plate.

That's true, but the gold mine in each country that has continued since last year is at the highest level in modern times, with a big difference from the previous one.

If you look at this table now, you can see at a glance how competitively central banks around the world have been buying gold over the past year.

The 20 years beginning in the 1990's were largely a time when countries sold gold.

Then, since 2011, when gold prices hit record highs before the pandemic, central banks around the world have turned to buying gold, not selling.

I started to collect steadily. Then, suddenly, last year, gold purchases in each country soared, as you can see.

Overall, 1,136 tonnes is a net increase in gold holdings by central banks around the world, a whopping 152% more than in 2021.

The price of gold soared, but they kept buying. And this year, we're continuing that momentum.

In the first quarter of this year, the amount of gold bought by the country's central banks exceeded the level of the first quarter of last year.

<Anchor>
I'm curious
which country is most passionate about buying gold. Looking at the table prepared by Kwon earlier, there was also China, but it has been a while since China has been buying gold like this.

<Reporter>

Yes. That's why everyone is paying attention to China. China began increasing its gold purchases for the first time in three years in November last year for the first time since September 2019.

Since then, we have been rapidly increasing our gold every month for six months.

China's national reserves of gold have now exceeded 2,000 tons since the end of last year.

Still, gold's share of China's asset reserves is still quite low. That's only 3.9 percent.

This is in contrast to Western countries that have been contending for gold for hundreds of years, Western European countries such as Germany and France, and the United States, which hold close to 60~70% of their asset holdings in gold.

In fact, it would be nice to have more gold, but there are also many things to consider. I hold all the gold nuggets in the world, and I don't earn a penny more interest.

It doesn't deserve to be stored. For reference, unlike many other countries in Korea, the Bank of Korea has not bought gold at all for the past 10 years.

The Bank of Korea has 104 tons worth of gold. In Korea as a whole, the Bank of Korea's asset holdings account for only 1.44%.

Since we talked about gold in thousands of tons today, it seems like 104 tons less, but in terms of international standard gold bars, it is more than 10,000 pieces.

Where are all these 10,000 gold bars? They're all in the Bank of England, not within our borders.

Where there is a strong UK market for gold, they are paying a storage fee to the central bank of the UK.

When a state buys gold in large quantities in a short period of time, it's not usually a lot to worry about.

<Anchor>
Even if you want to buy gold, every country will be different, so why are the countries that buy so much
gold?

<Reporter>
There are two main things that
the World Gold Association is talking about. It is a preparation for geopolitical conflict and inflation.

For example, China has resumed buying gold after a three-year absence, and China is buying gold, but the dollar bonds issued by the U.S. government are now shrinking rapidly.

China is still one of the largest holders of U.S. bonds, but it has reduced about one-third from when it was the most.

As you can see, it's one of the countries that holds the most dollars, but even if you can't get away from the dollar, even if gold doesn't earn a penny of interest, it seems that they are thinking of diversifying their assets by increasing their share of the country's assets a little more.

Russia's central bank's holdings fell by 6 tonnes in the first quarter, according to the World Gold Council, but it's just minting coins, and gold purchases are still known to be increasing.

Recently, a U.S. asset management mogul described gold as a tool for rebellion against the dollar.

So, if the price surge subsides in a country that is not tense with the United States, gold may be relatively less attractive, but it is still volatile in many ways.

For the foreseeable future, gold hoarding in many countries is likely to continue.