A growing number of African countries are turning to gold to hedge geopolitical risk and protect against currency losses.
Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, and several other African nations have made moves to increase gold reserves, bring their gold home, and even back their currencies with the yellow metal.
South Sudan is the latest country to turn to gold. Last weekend, the country’s central bank governor said he plans to expand the country’s gold reserves.
“We are in the stage of preparing policy documents and studying examples of other countries and lessons drawn.”
Earlier this month, the Ugandan central bank announced a domestic gold-buying program to purchase gold directly from local artisanal miners to help “address the risks in the international financial markets.”
In June, Tanzania announced a plan to spend $400 million on six tons of gold. Tanzania Finance Minister Dr. Mwigulu Nchemba also issued a directive to curb the widespread use of the U.S. dollar in the country.
Nigeria has launched a domestic gold-buying plan to bolster its reserves. In addition to buying locally sourced gold, the Nigerian central bank has announced plans to bring its existing gold reserves back into the country “to mitigate risks associated with the weakening U.S. economy.”
https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2024/07/25/african-countries-are-turning-to-gold-003338
“We still see very significant value in long gold positions, and maintain our bullish $2,700 forecast (a 12% increase over current spot prices) for 2025,” they added.