Egypt was the biggest buyer in Q1, reporting a 44t (+54%) increase in its gold reserves in February. This took total gold reserves to 125t, or 17% of total reserves which is on the higher end when compared to the country’s regional peers. For some time, Egypt has been adding gold from a domestic mine but usually in small increments. The Egyptian government has also been
taking steps to ramp up domestic gold production in the long term. But the drop in FX reserves in January and February could mean that not all of the 44t came from domestic sources