The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) continued to buy additional gold for its reserves in 2019 and has already obtained 8.2 tonnes so far. Howie Lee, an economist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, suggests, judging by the beginning of the year, that the overall amount of gold bought by the RBI will reach 46.7 tonnes or 1.5 million ounces.
This move follows China and Russia ramping up their gold purchases in 2019, with the Russian Central bank buying 18.7 tonnes in March alone, with total reserves reaching 2,170 tonnes. China, in turn, bought 10.21 tonnes in March, increasing its gold reserves to 1,900 tonnes
At the same time, Russia has been reducing its holdings of US treasuries since March 2018 in the wake of the US continuing to impose new sanctions against Moscow under various pretexts. China, which is embroiled in a trade war with the US, also started ditching US Treasury bonds in 2018, selling as much as $7.7 billion worth of them in September.
READ MORE: Ditching the Dollar: China on Gold-Buying Spree in Shift Away From Greenback
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Washington is "abusing" the dollar's status and undermining the currency in the long term with its actions. He argued that subsequent instability of the dollar would result in "billions in economic losses".
