The World Gold Council (WGC) says Tajikistan’s gold reserves remained unchanged at 17.19 tons in the first quarter of 2022 from 17.19 tons in the fourth quarter of 2021. A total cost of those 17.19 tons of gold is reportedly 1.1 billion U.S. dollars.
The WGC notes that gold plays an important part in central banks’ reserves management, and they are significant holders of gold. This gold reserve data – compiled using IMF IFS statistics – tracks central banks’ reported purchases and sales along with gold as a percentage of their international reserves.
According the WGC Global central bank gold reserves increased by 19.4 tons in April based on available data, flipping back to net purchases following net sales of 9.4 tons during March. Uzbekistan reportedly was the largest purchaser in the month, increasing its gold reserves by 8.7 tons. Turkey continued its gold buying this year by purchasing another 5.6 tons in the month, while Kazakhstan purchased 5.3 tons in the month. Sales were dominated by Germany, which sold 0.9 ton in April, while Mexico and Czech Republic sold 0.1 ton each.
Monetary gold is gold to which the Bank as a monetary authority has title to and is held as a reserve asset. Gold includes gold bullion as well as unallocated gold accounts with non-residents that give title to claim the delivery of gold.
It is to be noted that Tajikistan dramatically increased the sale of precious metals during the pandemic years.
Thus, according to official statistics, Tajikistan exported about US$690 million worth of precious metals in 2020, which was about 50 percent of the country’s exports.
Over the first eleven months of last year, Tajikistan reportedly exported almost US$710 million worth of precious metals, which was about 40 percent of the country’s exports.
According to data from the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies (MoINT), gold production in Tajikistan increased more than 4 times during 2014-2019 – from 2 tons in 2014 to 8.1 tons in 2019.
No data available for 2020-2021.
According to data from the WGC, Tajikistan’s currency reserves have amounted to 758.5 million U.S. dollars by May, while a total volume of the gold-and-currency reserves have amounted to more than 1.8 billion U.S. dollars by May this year.
Kazakhstan tops Central Asia’s nations in terms of gold reserves – 368.12 tons. It is followed by Uzbekistan – 337.47 tons, Kyrgyzstan’s gold reserves amount to 10.19 tons. No data available for Turkmenistan.
