Marcus Grubb, Managing Director, Investment at the World Gold Council commented:
“Unsurprisingly investment demand for gold was a key driver during the third quarter. Increasing levels of inflation, the US credit rating downgrade, a worsening eurozone sovereign debt crisis and the lacklustre performance of many assets drove investors to increase holdings in gold in order to protect their wealth. Given gold’s proven risk mitigation properties, it is likely that investors will continue to seek protection from economic uncertainty, which shows no signs of abating.
“The long-term fundamentals for gold remain strong with a diverse and growing demand base coupled with constrained supply-side activity.”
Global Central Banks continue to expand gold reserves with Belarus, Columbia, Mexico, Kazakhstan, and Russia adding 25.7 metric tons valued at $1.57 billion U.S. dollars.
Interesting to note Canada. Canada as of Q2 2011, with a population of 34.1 million, only holds 164.1 million dollars of gold reserves. Belarus, with population of 9.4 million, holds 1.85 billion dollars of gold reserves. Can someone help Canada here please????
Here are some charts to put it in persepective.
Gold Demand Statistics Q3 2011 and Reserves available here
