An article from the Straits Times a few days ago caught my attention, which read:

Singapore’s central bank the world’s third-largest gold buyer from Jan to Sept 20231

It reported that Singapore had purchased 75 tonnes of the precious yellow metal during the first nine months of the year. While sitting at third, the purchase was slightly dwarfed by the largest buyer, China (181 tonnes) and second-placed Poland (105 tonnes) for the same period. 

Gold is recognized globally and used by central banks as reserve assets, which could prop up the country’s currency and economy in times of need. The buying-up of gold by central banks had increased since 2022, with that year well over 1,000 tonnes were purchased, mainly fuelled by the Russo-Ukrainian conflict and soaring inflation then. The recent crisis in the Middle East had made the price of gold jumped to above USD 2,000 before