Читать книгу Investing in Gold & Silver For Dummies - Paul Mladjenovic, Paul Mladjenovic, Ted Sudol - Страница 64

The second area of demand is from central banks that buy gold as a store of value and to diversify their asset and currency reserves. This category of demand hit an all-time high of 667.7 tons.

What I find interesting about central banks is that they have a love/hate relationship with gold. On the one hand, they hate (perhaps dislike is a better word) gold because it’s a competitor to the currency they issue. When the public buys gold, it’s an admission that the currency isn’t attractive in terms of holding its value.

But many central bankers do realize that ultimately gold wins over currencies … sooner or later. In this case, the smart(er) central bankers prefer to have gold in their corner to boost their currency. Maybe not always officially but indirectly. If gold can make the central bank of that country strong(er), that in turn boosts confidence in that particular currency. The great tendency has been historically that the East (principally China, India, and other countries) have been, on balance, greater buyers of gold than their Western counterparts. Given the history and endurance of gold, central banks in the West, especially Western Europe and the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve, will see the wisdom and become net buyers, too.