The world’s gold and foreign exchange reserves have shown a record decline in recent years, as they declined in 2022 by $1 trillion.

According to a report published by “Novosti” news agency, based on data from central banks, “gold and foreign exchange reserves in the world declined last year, at a record rate of one trillion dollars, and the figures show that Switzerland recorded the largest decline.”

According to central bank data, reserves fell by $1 trillion last year, the largest annual decline since at least the turn of the century.

Before that, the largest decline was in 2015, when foreign holdings in central banks fell by $711 billion.

At the same time, it last recorded a decrease in reserves in 2018, by only $63 billion.

In total, reserves fell last year in two-thirds of the countries surveyed, with the most declining reserves being in Switzerland ($186 billion), Japan ($134 billion), Singapore ($128 billion) and China ($120 billion). Hong Kong closes the top five with a decrease of $73 billion in international assets.

The top 10 also includes India, Russia, South Korea, Brazil and the Czech Republic.

At the same time, the international assets of central banks increased in 33 countries, but they increased by more than $1 billion in only 15 countries. Turkey recorded the strongest growth in gold and foreign exchange assets, which grew by $17.6 billion.

The top five also included Qatar (+$5.2 billion), Argentina (+$4.9 billion), Saudi Arabia (+$4.5 billion), and Kuwait (+$4.1 billion).

Source: National News Agency