Central banks have turned from net sellers of gold into net buyers over the last ten years, and a lot of this has to do with governments’ changing appetite for risk, this according to Juan Carlos Artigas, director of investment research at the World Gold Council. “Central banks also cite safety and diversification in reasons why they invest in gold, and in some sense, gold is an asset that can protect their reserves over the long term,” Artigas told Kitco News.