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Gold reserve by country in 2012



Gold has always been an attractive metal, be it as jewellery or investment.

It was also once a commodity for trading before being replaced by money in the form of printed paper.

As global economy goes up or down, gold has always been considered a safehaven asset.

It is interesting though, to find out how countries are keeping them.

The following table is a copy from Wikipedia’s Gold reserve entry.

As of December 2012 (Top 40 based on World Gold Council data)[9]
Rank Country/Organization Gold
(tonnes)
Gold’s share
of national
forex reserves (%)
1 United States 8,133.5 76%
2 Germany 3,391.3 73%
3 International Monetary Fund logo.svg International Monetary Fund 2,814.0 N.A.
4 Italy 2,451.8 72%
5 France 2,435.4 71%
6 China 1,054.1 2%
7 Switzerland 1,040.1 11%
8 Russia 976.9[10] 9%
9 Japan 765.2 3%
10 Netherlands 612.5 60%
11 India 557.7 10%
12 Logo European Central Bank.svg European Central Bank 502.1 33%
13 Taiwan 423.6 6%
14 Portugal 382.5 90%
15 Turkey 375.7[10] 16%
16 Venezuela 365.8 75%
17 Saudi Arabia 322.9 3%
18 United Kingdom 310.3 16%
19 Lebanon 286.8 29%
20 Spain 281.6 30%
21 Austria 280.0 55.0%
22 Belgium 227.5 39%
23 Philippines 192.7 12%
24 Algeria 173.6 5%
25 Thailand 152.4 4%
26 Singapore 127.4 3%
27 Sweden 125.7 13%
28 South Africa 125.1 13%
29 Mexico 124.5 4%
30 Libya 116.6 5%
31 BIS-logo.PNG Bank for International Settlements 116.0 N.A.
32 Kazakhstan 115.3 22%
33 Greece 111.9 82%
34 Romania 103.7 12%
35 Poland 102.9 5%
36 South Korea 84.4 1%
37 Australia 79.9 9%
38 Kuwait 79.0 13%
39 Egypt 75.6 25%
40 Indonesia 73.1 4%
41 Denmark Kingdom of Denmark 66.5 4.1%
42 Pakistan Islamic Republic of Pakistan 64.4 18.9%
43 Argentina Argentine Republic 54.7 6.4%
44 Brazil Federative Republic of Brazil 52.5 0.5%
45 Bolivia Plurinational State of Bolivia 49.3 22.9%
46 Finland Republic of Finland 49.1 24.6%
47 Bulgaria Republic of Bulgaria 39.9 12.0%
48 Belarus Republic of Belarus 38.5 41.4%
49 West African Economic and Monetary Union 36.5 12.9%
50 Malaysia Malaysia 36.4 1.5%
51 Ukraine Ukraine 35.2 4.9%
52 Peru Republic of Peru 34.7 4.0%
53 Slovakia Slovakia 31.8 67.6%
54 Ecuador Ecuador 26.3 32.0%
55 Syria Syrian Arab Republic 25.8 7.9%
56 Morocco Kingdom of Morocco 22.0 5.6%
57 Nigeria Federal Republic of Nigeria 21.4 3.2%
58 Serbia Republic of Serbia 14.1 5.1%
59 Cyprus Republic of Cyprus 13.9 58.3%
60 Bangladesh People’s Republic of Bangladesh 13.5 7.5%
61 Netherlands Antilles Netherlands Antilles 13.1 36.3%
62 Jordan Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan 12.8 5.5%
63 Czech Republic Czech Republic 12.5 1.6%
64 Qatar State of Qatar 12.4 4.4%
65 Cambodia Kingdom of Cambodia 12.4 16.6%
66 Colombia Republic of Colombia 10.4 1.8%
67 Laos Lao People’s Democratic Republic 8.8 36.5%
68 Sri Lanka Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka 8.1 5.3%
69 Latvia Republic of Latvia 7.7 05.5%
70 El Salvador Republic of El Salvador 7.3 14.6%
71 Guatemala Republic of Guatemala 6.9 5.8%
72 Republic of Macedonia Republic of Macedonia 6.8 14.8%
73 Tunisia Tunisian Republic 6.7 4.5%
74 Republic of Ireland Ireland 6.0 15.1%
75 Nepal Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal 6.0 [11]
76 Lithuania Republic of Lithuania 5.8 04.1%
77 Bahrain Kingdom of Bahrain 4.7
78 Tajikistan Republic of Tajikistan 4.4
79 Mauritius Republic of Mauritius 3.9 06.5%
80 Canada Canada 3.4 0.3%
81 Slovenia Republic of Slovenia 3.2 15.8%
82 Aruba Aruba 3.1 24.2%
83 Hungary Hungary 3.1 0.3%
84 Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyz Republic 2.6 7.5%
85 Mongolia Mongolia 2.3 4.8%
86 Luxembourg Grand Duchy of Luxembourg 2.2 10.6%
87 Suriname Republic of Suriname 2.2 13.1%
88 Hong Kong Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 2.1 0.0%
89 Iceland Republic of Iceland 2.0 01.3%
90 Papua New Guinea Independent State of Papua New Guinea 2.0 2.8%
91 Trinidad and Tobago Republic of Trinidad and Tobago 1.9 1.1%
92 Albania Republic of Albania 1.6 3.4%
93 Yemen Republic of Yemen 1.6 1.8%
94 Cameroon Republic of Cameroon 0.9 1.2%
95 Honduras Republic of Honduras 0.7 1.4%
96 Paraguay Republic of Paraguay 0.7 0.7%
97 Dominican Republic Dominican Republic 0.6 1.1%
98 Gabon Gabonese Republic 0.4 0.8%
99 Malawi Republic of Malawi 0.4 8.9%
100 Central African Republic Central African Republic 0.3 8.4%
101 Chad Republic of Chad 0.3 2.4%
102 Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo 0.3 0.4%
103 Uruguay Oriental Republic of Uruguay 0.3 0.1%
104 Fiji Republic of Fiji 0.2 0.0%
105 Estonia Republic of Estonia 0.2 6.0%
106 Chile Republic of Chile 0.2 0.0%
107 Malta Republic of Malta 0.2 1.6%
108 Costa Rica Republic of Costa Rica 0.1 0.1%
109 Haiti Republic of Haiti 0.0 0.1%

I am not an economist, but by ranking of gold reserve kept by any country, it does seem to be a correlation in terms of the gold amount they have with their economy?

If a country has lower gold reserve as compared to its neighboring country, would it spell disaster if the global economy crashes?

More on 10 Countries Hoarding Enormous Stockpiles Of Gold

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