USA: According to Ruchir Sharma, chairman of Rockefeller International, central banks around the world are turning away from the US dollar and towards gold as a safe haven asset.    

Prices for the commodity have increased 20% in the last six months, with demand coming from "heavy buyers" like central banks rather than "the usual suspects" like big and small investors "seeking a hedge against inflation and low real interest rates," Sharma wrote in the Financial Times on Sunday.  

The investment expert claims that regulators are drastically reducing their dollar holdings and looking for a secure substitute. According to Sharma, central banks now make up a record 33% of monthly global demand for gold and are increasing their gold purchases more than at any other point since records have been kept in 1950.  

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He continued, "Clearly, something new is driving gold prices. This buying boom has helped push the price of gold to near-record levels and more than 50% higher than what models based on real interest rates would suggest.  

Sharma noted that nine of the top ten central bank buyers, including Russia, India, and China, are in the "developing world." Sharma noted that it is not a coincidence that these three nations are in discussions with Brazil and South Africa about developing a new currency to compete with the dollar. 

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He attributed the surge in demand for the precious metal to the US and its allies' increased pressure through increased sanctions, with as many as 30% of countries now subject to international fines, up from 10% in the early 1990s.  

Sharma claimed that because of this, "gold, the oldest and most traditional of assets, is now a vehicle of central bank revolt against the dollar."  

After Russian assets were frozen abroad and the nation was cut off from the SWIFT global financial messaging system, some nations started looking for alternatives. It became evident right away that any country could be a target, Sharma wrote.   

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The expert claimed that the US viewed sanctions as a "cost-free way to fight Russia," but in actuality, Washington has paid a price for the dollar's weaponization as even allies like Thailand and the Philippines have begun to look for alternatives.