Current price of Gold

 

 

 

 

Which country holds the highest gold reserves?

 

The short answer is... the United States.

 

Countries have held part of their wealth in the form of gold for thousands of years now.

 

If you go back a hundred or more years, countries like Great Britain were held in high regard internationally as a result of their high level of gold reserves. Having gold assets in hand attracted respect from other countries and showed that you actually had real, tangible wealth.

 

In some ways it is surprising that this is still the case.

 

Today, with the increasing complexity of the world’s financial markets, you might think that actually owning and storing wealth in the form of gold bars might have become irrelevant. After all, there are so many other ways in which wealth can be stored and exchanged.

 

But still, in the world of the internet and instant wire transfers, countries still like to hold some of their wealth in actual, physical gold.

 

Gold is still a sign of wealth and stability, even today.

 

The world leader in gold reserves is United States with 8,133 tonnes as on September 2008.

 

Germany has the second highest gold reserves at 3,412.6 tonnes.

France has 2,508 tonnes.

 

Italy has 2451.8 tonnes.

 

China is now the fifth biggest holder of gold reserves with 1054 tonnes.

Switzerland has 1,040 tonnes.

 

India, which many perceive as being a country with a lot of gold reserves, is actually way down at 14th position with gold reserves of 357.7 tonnes. The Indians prefer to wear their gold, rather than store it in vaults.

 

 

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