World Gold Council: Russia accounts for 57% of gold added to reserves worldwide in Q3
MOSCOW. Nov 13 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia added 55 tonnes of gold to its international reserves in Q3 2014, which is about 57% of total additions to central bank reserves worldwide in the period, the World Gold Council (WGC) said in its quarterly report on gold demand trends.
Kazakhstan's central bank was in second place with 28 tonnes, followed by Azerbaijan (7 tonnes), Mauritius (2 tonnes) and Tajikistan (1 tonne). All other central banks combined purchased about 3 tonnes of gold in the quarter.
Russia is now in sixth place globally in terms of gold in international reserves (1,149.8 tonnes). The U.S. remained in first place with 8,113.5 tonnes, followed by Germany (3,384.2 tonnes), the International Monetary Fund (2,814 tonnes), Italy (2,451.8 tonnes) and France (2,435.4 tonnes). In the second quarter, Russia for the first time passed China, which had 1,054.1 tonnes as of the end of September.
Russia's central bank was the world's leading gold purchaser for the second straight quarter. It added 54 tonnes of gold to reserves in Q2 2014, followed by Kazakhstan (7 tonnes) and Tajikistan (3 tonnes). Russia was in second place in Q1 2014 (6 tonnes) after Iraq (36 tonnes). Kazakhstan (5 tonnes) was in third place.