Marruecos es el decimosegundo país árabe con más reservas de oro

A new report by the World Gold Council, the organisation that collects data on the possession of gold by the world's nations, has stated that Morocco is in twelfth place among the Arab countries with the largest reserves of this mineral in their Central Banks. The Alawi country's place is marked in a total of 15 countries that have gold in their economies. The data show that the Kingdom has around 22.1 tonnes of gold. 

Within these 15 Arab countries, the top of the list is Saudi Arabia, which holds 323.1 tonnes of gold. In second place is Lebanon, which has 286.83 tonnes, and in third place is Algeria, with 173.56 tonnes of this luxury mineral. Following these first, there are nations such as Libya, Iraq, Egypt and Kuwait, which hold 116.64T, 96.42T, 80.73T and 78.97 tonnes of gold, respectively.

Only ahead of Morocco are the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and the Syrian Arab Republic. The Gulf country is in ninth place with a wealth of 54.85 tonnes of gold, followed by Jordan with 37.32 tonnes. Syria, for its part, has almost 26 million tonnes of gold in its banks. 

Below Morocco, the Arab countries on the list with the lowest gold holdings are Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, Mauritania and Oman. All of these nations have less than 10 tonnes of the mineral in their central reserves. Only Tunisia and Bahrain have a remarkable figure, with 6.84 tonnes and 4.67 tonnes respectively. The others are at a threshold below one tonne, and even Oman falls short, with 0.02 tonnes of gold in its holdings.  

As of today, the country with the most gold in its possession is the United States. The US has 8,133.5 tonnes of the precious metal. Below it, Europe has three countries in second, third and fourth place on the world list. Germany has 3,359.1 tonnes of gold, followed by Italy with 2,451.8 and France, which has 2,436.4 tonnes of gold. The fifth country in the world with the most gold is Russia with 2,298.5 tonnes.

"Gold is a safe haven, especially in times of crisis, as many people tend to buy it to protect against inflation risks, and in recent years, prices of the precious metal have risen in light of the coronavirus crisis and its aftermath," the World Gold Council document states.

On a global level, the report celebrates that, in just one month, comparing January 2022 with December 2021, total world reserves have increased by 11 tonnes, which means that this mineral is increasingly obtained to protect against any inconvenience that may arise in the economy of the territories. 

The Council assures that, during all quarters of 2021, much of the losses related to the coronavirus, which in 2020 meant a serious drop in the purchase of this material, have been recovered. To date, the demand for the use of this mineral in the jewellery sector and in the field of technology are the sectors that have contributed most to the recovery and, at the same time, to economic growth.

Jewellery manufacturing grew by 67% in 2021, collecting 2,221 tonnes of gold. On the other hand, gold used in technology has increased by 9%, with 330 tonnes in just three years. In total, Central Banks have accumulated over the past year 463 tonnes of gold, which means that the collection has been 82% more than the total obtained in 2020. This raises the prospect that global reserves will manage to remain at a maximum for almost 30 more years.