Iraq fourth-largest gold-owning Arab country
Gold bars and coins are stacked in the safe deposit boxes room of the Pro Aurum gold house in Munich, Germany. Photo: Reuters
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The World Gold Council’s report for September showed that Iraq is one of the top five Arab countries in terms of gold reserves.
The report indicated that the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) possesses 132.6 tons, placing Iraq as the fourth-largest gold-owning Arab country.
According to the report, Saudi Arabia continued to lead the list as it possesses 323.1 tons, followed by Lebanon with 286.8 tons, followed by Algeria with 173.6 tons, then Iraq with 132.6 tons, and then Egypt with 125.9 tons.
The CBI increased its gold reserves by about two percent in one day last May as part of a plan to increase stocks of gold, which is considered a traditional haven in times of economic crises, Bloomberg reported.
“Iraq bought 2.5 tons of bullion to bring its reserves to 132.73 tons,” the director general of the CBI’s investments department, Mazin Sabah, told Bloomberg in May.
Sabah explained that the CBI plans to buy more gold in the second half of 2023.
“Our current plan is to buy small quantities several times, not a large quantity at once,” Sabah added.
Central banks around the world are expanding their bullion holdings amid mounting geopolitical and economic risks.
Iraq, the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), resumed its purchases of gold in 2022 after a 4-year stoppage as part of a program to diversify its foreign assets.
The CBI bought 34 tons of gold in June 2022, representing an increase of 35 percent in its holdings.
The bullion is stored at the Bank of England and the Bank of France.