The world's central banks purchased 321.2 tons of gold in the third quarter, 42% more than in the same period last year. On the contrary, the Russian Central Bank sold 18.66 tons of gold bars and foreign reserves, well ahead of other sellers. The Central Bank of Kyrgyzstan also got rid of gold (0.95 tons), the central banks of Germany, Singapore and Mexico - 0.19 tons, 0.08 tons, 0.02 tons, respectively. The biggest buyer of gold was the People's Bank of China, which replenished its gold reserves by 63.14 tons. The Russian Central Bank has been selling gold for 10 months in a row as part of a "mirror" of the Ministry of Finance's activities, which with the help of the precious metal from the National Welfare Fund "traveled" the budget deficit. It reached 7.3 trillion rubles this year and more than 22 trillion since the beginning of the war. A quarter earlier, the gold reserves of the Bank of Russia decreased by 21.77 tons. In the months of December-September, gold in Russian gold and foreign currency reserves decreased by 2 million troy ounces or 62 tons. The selloff was the largest for Russia since 1998, when the GKO government bond pyramid collapsed and the Russian government declared a sovereign debt default.