ANKARA (Scrap Register): The Central Bank of Turkey increased gold reserves by 51.5 tons during last year, according to the World Gold Council.

This is the second consecutive year of net purchases, 40 % lower than the 85.9 t it bought in 2017, when it re-entered the market after a nearly 25 year absence.

This y-o-y decline was exacerbated by a 16t reduction in gold reserves in November. Since May 2017 Turkish gold reserves have increased by 137.4 tons.

Kazakhstan’s gold reserves rose 50.6t in 2018, to 350.4t. 2018 marks the eighth consecutive annual increase. On a monthly basis, gold reserves have risen for 75 consecutive months, with net purchases totalling an impressive 246.4t over that period.

And having been dormant since October 2016, China announced that its gold reserves had increased by just under 10t in December, to 1,852.2t.4 Gold accounted for 2.4% of total reserves at year-end, up from 2.3% at the end of 2017, while FX reserves fell US$67bn over the year to US$3.1tn.