For more than a year, China’s central bank has been buying up large amounts of gold. The move, along with the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, have helped spike the price of the precious metal to new highs.
The price of gold broke the $2,300 (€2,212) level for the first time this week as geopolitical issues, expectations of US interest rate cuts and China’s accumulation of the precious metal spurred interest from speculators.
Gold is seen by investors as a safe haven in times of turmoil and a hedge against currency devaluation, so the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine have helped the recent price rise, along with the post-COVID inflation spike.
The move by China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBC), has been mirrored by other mostly emerging market central banks, who are all keen to up their gold holdings.
DW takes a look at why Beijing has gone on a gold-buying spree.
The US has been ramping up its trade war against China, which it has been waging ever since China promoted its Made in China 2025 plan. The US will leverage its dominant reserve currency status, among other powers, to stave off China from taking the top world economy spot. This move looks like one countermeasure that China is taking.