Africa-Press – Angola. Central banks around the world accumulate gold reserves at a furious pace last seen 55 years ago, when the US dollar was still backed by gold. According to the World Gold Council (WGC), central banks purchased a record 399 tonnes of gold worth around US$20 billion in the third quarter of this year, with global demand for the precious metal back on track pre-pandemic levels.
Retail demand from jewelers and buyers of gold bars and coins was also strong, the WGC said in its latest quarterly report. The WGC says world gold demand totaled 1,181 tonnes in the September quarter, good for 28 percent Y/Y growth.
The WGC says that among the biggest buyers are the central banks of Turkey, Uzbekistan, Qatar and India, although other central banks have also purchased substantial amounts of gold but have not publicly disclosed their purchases.
Turkey’s Central Bank remains the biggest reported gold buyer this year, adding 31 tonnes in the third quarter to bring its total gold reserves to 489 tonnes.
The Central Bank of Uzbekistan bought another 26 tonnes, the Central Bank of Qatar bought 15 tonnes, the Reserve Bank of India added 17 tonnes during the quarter, bringing its gold reserves to 785 tonnes.
Retail buyers of gold bars and coins also increased in Turkey to 46.8 tonnes in the quarter, up more than 300 percent from a year earlier.
These developments are not surprising considering that gold is still considered the preeminent safe asset in times of uncertainty or turmoil, despite the emergence of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.
Gold is also considered an effective inflation hedge, although experts say this only rings true over extended timeframes measured in decades or even centuries.
FIGHT AGAINST INFLATION US
Unemployment rate rises to 3.7 percent in October
The unemployment rate rose in October in the United States to 3.7 percent, but job creation remained roughly at the same pace as the previous month, the Labor Department said.
The US economy created 261,000 jobs last month, in a context of fighting inflation that implies a slowdown in the labor market.
The unemployment rate was slightly higher than expected as analysts anticipated a rate of 3.6 percent, but job creation was also above the forecasted 220,000 jobs.
In September, the unemployment rate in the United States stood at 3.5 percent, the level it had been before the pandemic.
Despite the rise of two tenths in the unemployment rate, the data show that the labor market remains with solid job creation, at a time when there is persistent inflation and interest rates have been rising since last March.
The publication of the figures on the labor market comes a few days before the midterm elections, which take place next Tuesday, with voters very focused on the state of the economy and their own financial situation.
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