Which country has the largest reserves?

(Boursier.com) — Nothing seems to be able to stop gold, which has broken a new record in recent hours, crossing the $2,600 per ounce mark, propelled in particular by the new cuts in key rates in the United States.

The price of gold bullion has risen more than 26% since the start of the year, as conflicts in the Middle East and Europe have heightened investor uncertainty. The Federal Reserve added to the momentum by lowering its target for the fed funds rate by 50 basis points to 4.75%-5.00% on Wednesday, while suggesting another half-point cut was expected by year-end.

Purchases

In recent months, gold has been driven by significant purchases by central banks, particularly China. According to the BestBrokers website, which uses data from the World Gold Council, the United States held the largest reserves in the second quarter of 2024, with more than 8,133 tonnes of gold, although Washington has not made any acquisitions since 2006. France is fourth, with 2,437 tonnes.

When it comes to gold reserves per capita, the Swiss central bank tops the charts: it currently holds 1,040 tonnes of the precious metal, which means that each inhabitant owns around 3.72 ounces of fine gold, or around $9,670 at the current exchange rate.

Furthermore, Switzerland currently has 37 gold coins per capita, “if we take one of the small coins currently minted by most central banks,” BestBrokers specifies. The latter weighs approximately 3.39 grams.

Those who don’t have any

The study highlights the case of Canada, one of the world’s largest gold producers, but which “has no gold reserves.” Major gold mining companies such as Barrick Gold, Agnico Eagle and Kinross are from Canada, but “the central bank does not consider gold to be as liquid an asset as, for example, U.S. Treasuries.”

Norway is another country with virtually no gold. Once home to significant reserves of the precious metal, it was invaded by Nazi Germany during World War II, and the Norwegian national treasury was “evacuated” to the United Kingdom and then to the United States, the authors of the study point out.