OREANDA-NEWS. American analysts understand why Russia and China are buying more and more gold. The goal of Moscow and Beijing is to change the rules of the game in the global economy, stopping the hegemony of the dollar. The accumulation of gold will lead to the fact that its price will soar, and paper currencies will turn into "poker chips".

According to the calculations of the World Gold Council (WGC), the volume of this precious metal on the balance of central banks increased by 651 tons over the past year - the highest figure since 1971, when the United States abandoned the gold standard. Almost half of this gold was bought by the Bank of Russia. Now the Central Bank of Russia has 2112 tons of gold - for the sum of about 87 billion dollars, a record volume in the entire history of modern Russia. Over the past ten years, the share of gold in the reserves of the country increased from 3.5 to 18.6 percent, while investments in US bonds and the dollar decreased to a minimum. As a result, Russia ranked fifth in the world among holders of gold reserves.

The second buyer of the precious metal after the Russian Federation was China, which has a reserve of 1,853 tons for 76 billion dollars. At the end of last year, Beijing after a more than two-year hiatus sharply increased gold purchases, which led to an increase in its value to a semi-annual maximum of $ 1,300 per ounce. India also seeks to enter the "golden club". Last year, the Reserve Bank of the country increased its gold reserves by almost 42 tons, bringing it to a record high of 600.4 tons. 

The worsening geopolitical and economic uncertainty prompted central banks to decide to diversify their reserves and focus on investing in safe and liquid assets, the WGC said. According to Bloomberg estimates, the diversification of reserves, which is carried out by leading world economies, will support global demand for bullion and - as a result - prices.