The Persian Gulf state of Qatar tripled its gold reserves in January from the month prior in order to protect itself against a weakening dollar, according to the Qatar Central Bank.
[Editor's Note: Four Gold Picks Set to Skyrocket in 2007 - Get Them Now]
Qatar, which is home to the world's largest single natural gas field, boosted gold reserves to 158.1 million Qatari riyals ($43.4 million) from 44.3 million riyals in December. Foreign currency reserves fell 1.5 percent to 15.5 billion riyals. In other words, Qatar is selling dollars to buy gold.
"Qatar and other central banks have indicated that they are looking to diversify their reserves as the dollar weakens, to protect the size of their reserves in non-dollar terms," Monica Malik, an economist with Standard Chartered Plc, tells Bloomberg.
Qatar is just one of several energy-producing countries that is seeking to diversify foreign reserves out of dollars. They're buying euros and other non-U.S. currencies and/or they're buying gold. Venezuela, Iran, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates have each announced intentions to diversify out of dollars.
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Editor's note:
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