10 Countries Hoarding Enormous Stockpiles Of Gold

AP Photo/Newmont MiningGermany is reportedly repatriating gold it has stashed with the New York Fed and the Bank of France, and some policymakers want to bring back all their gold in case the financial crisis worsens.

People continue to debate whether gold is or should be considered money.

However, this hasn't kept the world's central banks from increasing their gold reserves.

The World Gold Council estimates that central banks have purchased 500 tons of gold in 2012, up from 465 tons last year. Analysts attribute some of the support in gold prices to these central bank gold purchases.

Global gold reserves increased to 31,575.1 tons as of January 2013. We highlight the ten countries with the biggest official gold holdings as reported by the World Gold Council . We also included the percent of foreign reserves they possess in gold.

Note: CBGA refers to the Central Bank Gold Agreements. The first Agreement (CBGA 1) ran from September 27, 1999 to September 26, 2004. The second Agreement (CBGA 2) ran from September 27, 2004 to September 26, 2009. The third Agreement (CBGA 3) will run for five years from September 2009.