UAE Central Bank Follows India’s Lead in buying gold: Huge increase in reserves

UAE Central Bank’s Gold Reserves Surge by 3.5% in August

UAE Central Bank’s gold reserves surge. The value of the UAE’s central bank’s gold reserves rose to 22.021 billion dirhams at the end of August, new figures show. It was 21.28 billion dirhams at the end of July. This is an increase of 3.5 percent when comparing the values ​​for the two months.

According to the statistical bulletin released by the central bank on Friday, the bank’s gold reserves increased by more than 21.3 percent. The bank held gold worth 18:147 billion dirhams last year. Meanwhile, the country’s savings deposits are 303.714 billion dirhams. Of this, about 254 billion dirhams are in local currency.

Time deposits reached 886.661 billion dirhams, including 524.73 billion dirhams in local currency. The international reserves of the UAE banking sector increased to 1.305 trillion dirhams from 1.273 trillion dirhams at the end of July, an increase of 2.54 percent. The reserves have increased by about 14 percent since the beginning of the year compared to 1.145 trillion dirhams at the end of December last year.

The statistical bulletin also showed that cash withdrawals from the central bank from January to the end of August were 136 billion dirhams, while cash deposits were 126.25 billion dirhams. The value of transactions in the country’s banking sector through the UAE Fund Transfer System (UAEFTS) exceeded 12.746 trillion dirhams in the first eight months of this year.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India is also increasing its reserves at a significant rate. In October alone, the RBI bought 27 tonnes of gold. With this, the total amount of gold purchased by the RBI from January to October has increased to 77 tonnes. India had purchased only 16 tonnes of gold in 2023. It is noteworthy that this time this amount is the highest after the 200 tonnes purchased from the IMF in 2009.

The RBI, the UAE and the central bank have taken a similar stance in increasing gold reserves. At the same time, the UAE is a country where the price of gold is lower than India. The price difference between the two countries is about Rs 2000 to Rs 2500 per pound of gold.