In 2022, gold demand rose to its highest in 11 years owing much to the biggest central bank purchases on record. And despite a slowdown in buying by central banks in Q2 this year (102.9 metric tons) compared to that of last year (158.6 metric tons), the purchases in the first half of 2023 (386.9 metric tons) is still more than any January to June period in the data going back to 2000.
So, yes there might be some slowing in demand in the last quarter. However, the overall picture still shows that buying activity is rampant and with major central banks set to move towards a period of cutting interest rates once the inflation picture restores itself, there is reason to believe that gold demand may still ramp up further in the years ahead.
