In a comment on Twitter, Krishan Gopaul, senior European, Middle East and Asian market analyst, said that China's central bank bought 15 tonnes of gold last month; this follows 32 tonnes of gold bought in December and 30 tonnes bought in November.
This increases the country's total gold reserves to 2,025 tonnes.
Prior to its latest purchases, China has not reported any change in its gold holdings since 2019.
Analysts suggest that China will continue to buy gold throughout 2023 as it hopes to boost international confidence and stability of the yuan and challenge the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency. Last year, China began urging Middle Eastern countries to accept yuan for oil. China is the world's largest oil importer.
The World Gold Council noted that during China's last shopping spree, the central bank stockpiled 1,448 tonnes of gold between 2002 and 2019.
Central bank demand for gold is likely to continue to support gold prices throughout 2023. And the global trend toward de-dollarization will continue this year.
Emerging central banks, on average, hold about two-thirds of their reserves in dollar-denominated assets and less than 5% in gold. And they would like to change this ratio in favor of gold.
China is just one of the countries that is ramping up its gold purchases. Last month, the World Gold Council noted that central banks bought 417 tonnes of gold in the fourth quarter of last year.
Although China has attracted a lot of attention for its gold purchases, Turkey was the most active in the precious metals market last year.
According to the WGC, the Central Bank of Turkey bought 148 tonnes of gold last year.
In total, central banks bought 1,136 tonnes of gold last year, the most since 1967 and the second most since 1955.