Submitted by Ronan Manly, BullionStar.com
It has just come to light that Singapore?s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), added 26.35 tonnes of gold to its official monetary gold reserves over a 2 month period between May and June this year, in the process boosting its strategic gold holdings by 20% to a claimed 153.76 tonnes.
This addition to the monetary gold holdings of the Monetary Authority of Singapore was first pointed out by the World Gold Council?s Krishan Gopaul in a 25 November tweet, following an update to Singapore?s gold holdings appearing in the IMF?s International Financial Statistics (IFS) database, a source which World Gold Council uses to keep track of central bank and sovereign gold holdings.
While it?s unclear why changes to Singapore?s monetary gold holdings from May and June only made it on to the IFS database in recent days, looking more closely, the Monetary Authority of Singapore did ?reflect? the May and June gold purchases at the end of July and August, respectively, via updates to the MAS? monthly ?International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity? report, but did not announce or mention the additions specifically.
Before looking at how this substantial gold purchase by Singapore went unnoticed, here are the raw numbers from the MAS site itself. Up until the end of April 2021, Singapore?s central bank (MAS) had been reporting total gold holdings of 4,096,439 fine troy ounces, or 127.42 tonnes, a figure which had not changed since at least 2002 (which is as far back as World Gold Council records go).
During May 2021, MAS reports that it added 527,201 ozs (16.4 tonnes) of gold, taking it?s gold holdings as of end of May to 4,623,640 ozs (143.81 tonnes).
During June 2021, MAS reports that it added a further 319,801 ozs (9.95 tonnes) of gold, which increased MAS? gold holdings as of end of June to 4,943,441 ozs (153.76 tonnes).
This means that over the two months May and June 2021 inclusive, MAS purchased 847,002 fine troy ounces of gold (26.35 tonnes), and in doing so increased it?s gold holdings by 20.67%, and at the same time rising from 30th to 28th place in the world gold holding rankings.
It has just come to light that Singapore?s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), added 26.35 tonnes of gold to its official monetary gold reserves over a 2 month period between May and June this year, in the process boosting its strategic gold holdings by 20% to a claimed 153.76 tonnes.
This addition to the monetary gold holdings of the Monetary Authority of Singapore was first pointed out by the World Gold Council?s Krishan Gopaul in a 25 November tweet, following an update to Singapore?s gold holdings appearing in the IMF?s International Financial Statistics (IFS) database, a source which World Gold Council uses to keep track of central bank and sovereign gold holdings.
While it?s unclear why changes to Singapore?s monetary gold holdings from May and June only made it on to the IFS database in recent days, looking more closely, the Monetary Authority of Singapore did ?reflect? the May and June gold purchases at the end of July and August, respectively, via updates to the MAS? monthly ?International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity? report, but did not announce or mention the additions specifically.
Before looking at how this substantial gold purchase by Singapore went unnoticed, here are the raw numbers from the MAS site itself. Up until the end of April 2021, Singapore?s central bank (MAS) had been reporting total gold holdings of 4,096,439 fine troy ounces, or 127.42 tonnes, a figure which had not changed since at least 2002 (which is as far back as World Gold Council records go).
During May 2021, MAS reports that it added 527,201 ozs (16.4 tonnes) of gold, taking it?s gold holdings as of end of May to 4,623,640 ozs (143.81 tonnes).
During June 2021, MAS reports that it added a further 319,801 ozs (9.95 tonnes) of gold, which increased MAS? gold holdings as of end of June to 4,943,441 ozs (153.76 tonnes).
This means that over the two months May and June 2021 inclusive, MAS purchased 847,002 fine troy ounces of gold (26.35 tonnes), and in doing so increased it?s gold holdings by 20.67%, and at the same time rising from 30th to 28th place in the world gold holding rankings.