The World Gold Council, what else do you expect them to say? They've got a vested interest in pumping the gold price.
You'll notice that those nations aren't democracies, they're dictatorships and it means nothing anyway because the amount of gold compared with GDP is infinitesimal. You also must have noticed that despite goldbugs banging on about central banks buying gold, they've ALL lost money for the last 8 years, hardly an example of intelligent investment.
The WGC have also failed to report that Venezuela sold gold, a country lauded by the goldbugs a few years ago as having 'very smart central bankers' which were buying gold. Venezuela has 130 tonnes of gold but the inflation rate is expected to reach 10,000,000% this year and the populace are starving. Venezuela sold 73 tonnes in 2018 but the WGC seems to overlooked this minor detail.
The WGC also failed to report that Italy, which has 2,451 tonnes is contemplating selling part of its reserves.
==================== Heavy Metal
The U.S., Germany, Italy, and the IMF hold about half of the world's official gold reserves Source: World Gold CouncilNote: Official gold reserves are those held by central banks and major institutions such as the IMF.
That’s in many ways an accident of history. Since the end of the gold-standard era, there’s been little need for central banks to own much more of the metal than the single-digit percentages held by China, Switzerland, Japan, the U.K. and other major economies.Having a large share of reserves in metal can leave central banks overexposed to the movements of a single volatile asset, in contrast to a portfolio comprising a range of currencies and the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights.
In addition, gold is costly to store and trade compared with banknotes and deposits. Unlike foreign government bonds, it doesn’t provide any return. ===================
