Excluding another big sale by Turkey, central banks were net buyers of gold in May, according to the latest data compiled by the World Gold Council.
Eight central banks added gold to their reserves in May with net purchases totaling 50 tons.
But with Turkey dumping another 63 tons of gold in May, global net central bank gold holding fell by 27 tons.
Turkey has sold nearly 160 tons of gold since March. According to the World Gold Council, this is a response to local market dynamics and doesn’t likely reflect a change in the Turkish central bank’s long-term gold strategy.
According to the WGC, “Gold was sold into Turkey’s domestic market to satisfy very strong bar, coin and jewelry demand following a temporary partial ban on gold bullion imports.”