While their total is likely dwarfed by what goes unreported in China, the Russian central bank was, by far, the biggest buyer of gold during the third quarter as shown below in the World Gold Council’s latest report on Gold Demand Trends.
I suppose if I were Vladimir Putin here in 2014, I’d be trading in U.S. dollars for gold too, particularly given the developments in Ukraine so far this year and after the metal’s price has fallen to such low levels in recent weeks.
