20 Countries That Own 88% of World’s Gold

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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20 Countries That Own 88% of World’s Gold

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Just 20 countries control 88% of the world’s gold.

According to the World Gold Council:

Gold demand reached 1,290 tonnes Q1 2016, a 21% increase year-on-year, making it the second largest quarter on record. This increase was driven by huge inflows into exchange traded funds (ETFs) – 364t – fuelled by concerns around the shifting global economic and financial landscape. Higher prices and industrial action in India pushed global demand for jewellery down (-19%), while total bar and coin demand was marginally higher (+1%). Central banks remained strong buyers, purchasing 109t in the quarter. Total supply increased 5% to 1,135t. Hedging by producers (40t) supported an increase of 56t in mine supply, although countered by a marginal decline in recycling.

The key findings from the report for the first quarter of 2016 are as follows:

  • Overall demand for Q1 2016 increased by 21% to 1,290t, up from 1,070t in Q1 2015.
  • Total consumer demand was 736t down 13% compared to 849t in Q1 2015.
  • Global investment demand was 618t, up 122% from 278t in the same period last year.
  • Global jewellery demand fell 19% to 482t versus 597t in the first quarter of 2015.
  • Central bank demand dipped slightly to 109t in Q1 2016, compared to 112t in the same period last year.
  • Demand in the technology sector fell 3% to 81t in Q1 2016.
  • Total supply was up 5% to 1,135t in Q1 2016, from 1,081t in the first quarter of 2015. Mine supply was up 8% to 774t.

Who Has All The Gold?
courtesy of Karus Chains

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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