Kazakhstan's National Bank increased its gold reserves by more than 100 tonnes in the past few years, in a bid to reduce the country's reliance on the US dollar and neutralise currency risks. And in the months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it bought up more gold. Even at the beginning of 2021, as the country was still feeling the effects of the crisis, Kazakhstan increased its gold ownership.
The land-locked country, which is currently working to develop its gold mining industry through foreign investors and low government regulation, added an impressive 11.27 tonnes of gold to its stocks in the third quarter of 2021, bringing its total reserves to 402.38 tonnes. But in the first quarter of 2022, it changed course, rapidly selling off 34.26 tonnes to bring its reserves back down to 368.12 tonnes.
Despite later buying back 15.79 tonnes in the first half of 2022, Kazakhstan went on to offload twice as much in the second half of the year. After selling another 19.64 tonnes, the largest decrease of any country in the first quarter of 2023, Kazakhstan had 332.03 tonnes of gold. That's since dropped again to 294.24 tonnes according to the latest data.