Singapore adds 26 tonnes of gold reserves

Author: Frank Knopers

Singapore added more than 26 tonnes of gold to its reserves earlier this year. In May and June this year, the country's central bank bought a total of 26 tonnes of gold, without publicly disclosing it. It was only with the publication of new figures from the IMF that this purchase came to light. It was the first purchase of gold in more than twenty years.

A spokesperson for the central bank commented on the purchase of gold: "The change in the gold supply is the result of an ongoing effort by the central bank to diversify its reserves and make them crisis-proof. This purchase is a small step in relation to the total reserves."

Singapore buys gold

With the purchase of 26.3 tonnes of gold, the total gold supply of this city-state in Southeast Asia increased by about 20% to 153.7 tonnes. This gold reserve represents a value of $9 billion at the current gold price. How much the central bank paid for this purchase has not been disclosed. The purchase is striking, because the country's gold reserves have remained unchanged over the past twenty years.

Singapore, as a city-state with a population of 5.6 million, has a particularly large amount of reserves, namely $398 billion. Of that, only a fraction of about 2.2% consists of gold. The rest consists of foreign exchange reserves, which the country accumulated over the years with a trade surplus. Singapore has a relatively high public debt of about 130% to GDP, but it has no debt to foreign countries.

This article was previously published on Geotrendlines