Every now and then, it is useful to get a refresher on where official gold reserves are held. The following maps the top 100 holders of official gold reserves. Interestingly, the map shows the U.S. on top, with some European and Asian countries not far behind.
The map, of course, leaves out a number of relevant details. In the next two tables are the top 25 official gold reserves holders when measured by actual tonnage or percentage of total foreign reserves held in gold. As mentioned, the country with the largest official reserve holding is the United States at 8,214 tonnes. In second are the Germans at 3,384. The remaining members of the top 5 are the International Monetary Fund at 2,814, Italy at 2,452, and France at 2,435. The bottom portion of the top 10 includes Russia (1,208), China (1,054), Switzerland (1,040), Japan (765), and the Netherlands (613).
Switching to countries holding a large percentage of their official reserves in gold (as opposed to tonnage), Portugal comes out on top at 75%. Following Portugal is the United States at 73%, Greece at 70%, Venezuela (69%), Germany (68%), Italy (67%), France (66%), Netherlands (55%), Austria (43%), and Belgium (35%).
Is there a relationship between size of holding and percentage of total holding?
With the actual figures as the background, would you guess that there is a relationship between the two tables? Here is the correlation.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is a correlation, indicating that countries that put large amount of their foreign reserves in gold are not just the large countries. They are also the countries that are putting a larger portion of their foreign reserves in gold.
Interesting.
Conclusion
Overall, official foreign reserves denominated in gold continue to be strong. Of the countries holding gold, the largest holders include the U.S., many EU member nations, and some Asian countries including Russia and China.
