Latest article on Mineweb asks whether the big discrepancy between SGE withdrawal figures and WGC/GFMS assessment of Chinese gold demand could be down to China’s central bank using the nation’s commercial banks to hold gold on its behalf so that it avoids reporting this to the IMF.
Excerpt from the Mineweb article:
… if, for argument’s sake, we take GFMS/WGC estimates of Chinese consumer demand as being largely correct – and to have been so over the past several years, but with SGE withdrawal figures showing the true picture of total overall Chinese offtake, then the commercial banks have been hoarding perhaps up to 1,000 tonnes of gold a year or more for the past few years. This would tie in pretty well with the general perception of China substantially raising its gold reserve levels, but holding the additional gold in accounts which are not declarable for the moment to the IMF and thus retaining the fiction that it only holds 1,054.1 tonnes in its official gold reserves,,,,,
