74 metric tons, as of December 2021.

Algeria claims the topmost spot as the African country with the largest gold holding, at 174 metric tons, according to Statista - a global statistics portal integrating diverse topics of data and facts into a single platform in a release copied to the Ghana News Agency.

The North African country was followed by South Africa, with official gold reserves reaching 125 metric tons.

Libya takes the third position with - 117 metric tons.

Following Ghana is Tunisia and Mozambique, who placed ninth and tenth with - 6.84 metric tons and 3.94 metric tons respectively.

In March this year, the price of Gold reached $2,069.25 an ounce, a figure very close to the all-time high it reached in early August 2020.

According to financial experts, geopolitical tension caused by the Russian-Ukraine war is sinking the world's big stock markets leaving investors to run towards what they perceive as safe-haven assets such as the dollar, gold, or bonds.

Generally speaking, when inflation starts to rise, governments will buy large amounts of gold as a counter measure.

In 2020, central banks worldwide bought 272.9 tonnes of gold, according to data reported by the World Gold Council (WGC) data.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Ghana has launched a gold acquisition programme with the aim of doubling its gold holdings over the next five years.

In a speech , The Governor, Ernest Addison, at the launch of the event in June 17, 2021, said the programme would allow the Central Bank to buy domestically produced gold from selected aggregators and mining firms.

That, he said, would mark a "significant change in the modus operandi of Bank of Ghana’s foreign exchange reserves management operations."

Here are the top 10 African countries with the largest gold holdings in 2021, according to Statista.

Algeria 174 metric tons
South Africa - 125 metric tons
Libya - 117 metric tons
Egypt - 80.73 metric tons
Morocco - 22.12 metric tons
Nigeria - 21.37 metric tons
Mauritius - 12.44 metric tons
Ghana - 8.74 metric tons
Tunisia - 6.84 metric tons
Mozambique - 3.94 metric tons