Ranking of countries by volume of gold reserves 2018

Since 2010, central banks around the world have gone from being sellers of gold to buying gold. Last year, activity in the official gold sector rose 36 percent to 366 tons.

The largest buyer of gold over the past six years, according to the GFMS Gold Survey, is the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. It increased its reserves by 224 tons in 2017. Venezuela is the largest seller of gold for the second year in a row.

According to the World Gold Council, demand for the precious metal in the first three months of 2018 increased 42 percent over the same period last year. As global debt continues to rise, central banks and individual investors may want to increase the amount of gold in their vaults, as it is in good demand during times of economic downturn and geopolitical uncertainty.

Top 10 countries with the largest gold reserves in 2018

According to US Global Investors.

10. India

Gold reserve: 560.3 tons.
Percentage of total foreign exchange reserves: 5.5 percent.

The country, home to 1.25 billion people, is the second largest consumer of the precious metal and one of the most reliable drivers of global demand.

The Indian wedding season, which runs from October to December, has historically been the most favorable time for the gold trade. It is unthinkable for an Indian woman to get married without a large number of gold jewelry, which are made especially for the celebration.

9. Netherlands

General reserves: 612.5 tons.
Percentage of foreign exchange reserves: 68,2%.

In 2016, the Dutch Central Bank announced its intention to move its gold reserves from Amsterdam to the New Amsterdam camp, which is about an hour's drive from the city. The camp is located on land owned by the Ministry of Defense. It is home to the now defunct Royal Netherlands Air Force base.

The decision to move the gold to New Amsterdam was prompted by onerous security measures at the current location. The operation to transport reserves and build a new building will be completed in 2022.

8. Japan

Gold reserve: 765.2 tons.
Percentage of foreign exchange reserves: 2.5 percent.

Japan is the third largest economy in the world and is also the eighth largest holder of the yellow metal. The Japanese Central Bank has been one of the most aggressive deposit-rate easing practices. In January 2016, he lowered the interest rate on deposits below zero (to minus 0.1%), which helped provoke demand for gold around the world. Indeed, due to the negative rate, banks that have funds stored in the Central Bank are losing money.

7.Switzerland

Gold stock: 1040 tons.
Percentage of foreign exchange reserves: 5.3 percent.

In seventh place in the list of owners of the largest gold reserves in the world is a country with one of the lowest levels of corruption... This small federal republic has the world's largest per capita gold reserves.

During World War II, neutral Switzerland became the center of the gold trade in Europe, making deals with both the Allies and the powers fighting for Germany.Today, most of the Swiss gold trade is in Hong Kong and China.

6. China

Gold reserve: 1842.6 tons.
Percentage of foreign exchange reserves: 2.4 percent.

In the summer of 2015, and for the first time since 2009, the People's Bank of China began sharing information about its gold purchases on a monthly basis.

Although China is ranked sixth, the yellow metal makes up a small percentage of the country's total reserves - just 2.4 percent. This is the lowest in the list of countries with the largest gold reserves. However, this figure has grown from 2.2% in 2016.

China is also one of the largest gold miners.

5. Russia

Gold reserve: 1909.8 tons.
Percentage of foreign exchange reserves: 17,6%.

Russia's central bank has been the largest gold purchaser in the past six years and overtook China in terms of gold reserves earlier this year. In 2017, Russia bought 224 tonnes of bullion to diversify away from the US dollar, as relations with the West have become strained since mid-2014 since the annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

In order to find funds to buy gold, Russia sold part of its US Treasury securities.

4. France

Gold reserve: 2436 tons.
Percentage of foreign exchange reserves: 63,9%.

The central bank of France has sold little gold in the past few years, and there are calls within the country to stop selling the precious metal altogether. Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front party, is not only in favor of freezing the sale of gold, but also for repatriating all gold bars belonging to France from foreign vaults.

3. Italy

Gold reserve: 2451.8 tons.
Percentage of foreign exchange reserves: 67,9%.

For 19 years, Italy's gold reserves have remained stable, and this is endorsed by Italian economist, President of the European Central Bank (ECB) Mario Draghi. In 2013, when asked by a reporter what role gold plays in the ECB's portfolio, Draghi said the metal was a "safety reserve", adding that "it provides reasonably good protection against dollar fluctuations."

2. Germany

General reserve of gold: 3371 tons.
Percentage of foreign exchange reserves: 70,6%.

Germany completed a four-year gold repatriation operation last year, delivering 674 tons of the precious metal from the Bank of France and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to its vaults. The repatriation process is expected to continue until 2020.

Despite the fact that demand for gold in Germany fell last year after hitting a record high in 2016, the government is confident that investment in gold will continue to grow steadily after the global financial crisis.

1. United States of America

Gold reserve: 8,133.5 tons.
Percentage of foreign exchange reserves: 75.2 percent.

Stronghold of democracy has almost as much gold as all three countries in the neighboring places on the list. However, a full check of the US gold reserves was carried out in the 1950s of the last century, and audits in the 70s of the same century. This gave rise to rumors that at present the volume of America's gold reserves is greatly exaggerated, and part of the bars have been replaced with fake ones.

Most of the American gold is found at the Fort Knox military town in Kentucky, with the remainder held at the Philadelphia Mint, Denver Mint, West Point Bullion Depository, and the San Francisco Assay Office.

And Texas went as far as setting up its own gold depository to protect investors' gold.

Full list of countries with the largest gold reserves in 2018