In May, the world's central banks purchased 20.5 tons of gold

The most active buyers of gold in May were Kazakhstan (increased reserves by 7.4 tons), Türkiye (6.4 tons), Poland (6.2 tons)

In May, the world's central banks increased the volume of gold in their gold and foreign exchange reserves by 20.5 tons. These are preliminary estimates by the World Gold Council (WGC), Interfax reports.

This is more than in April (15.6 tons, according to revised data), but less than the average for the past 12 months (about 27 tons, according to WGC data).

"The renewed escalation of conflict in the Middle East may have increased gold's strategic appeal for central banks seeking to protect reserves from geopolitical turmoil," said WGC analyst Marissa Salim.

The most active buyers of gold in May were Kazakhstan (increased reserves by 7.4 tons), Turkey (6.4 tons), Poland (6.2 tons), China (1.9 tons), the Czech Republic (1.6 tons), Kyrgyzstan (1.3 tons) and Cambodia (1 ton). Purchases by other central banks were less than 1 ton.

The leader in terms of sales volume was the Bank of Singapore (minus 5.4 tons).

Recently, the WGC conducted a survey of representatives of central banks of different countries, and 43% of respondents noted that their country will buy gold in the coming year. And 95% of respondents believe that gold reserves in world central banks will continue to grow. Respondents, explaining their opinion, refer to the ability of gold to diversify and hedge assets during a crisis and inflation.