China's gold reserves have increased 57 percent since the last time it reported its holdings, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The People’s Bank of China on Friday said it has 53.32 million troy ounces of the precious metal in reserve. It last reported its holdings in April 2009.
China wants to see its yuan recognized as a reserve currency like the U.S. dollar, the Japanese yen, the euro and the British pound. But that isn't likely to happen soon, the Journal notes, because China's government tightly control's the yuan's value.

According to the International Monetary Fund, China's holdings put it fifth in total gold holdings behind the United States (at 261.5 million ounces),Germany, Italy and France. China now beats out Russia and Switzerland in total gold holdings.

But China's number is only about half what had been expected, Ross Norman of London-based bullion broker Sharps Pixley told the Journal.

"The interesting thing about the announcement is the timing," he said. "China has clear ambitions to create a global reserve currency to challenge the hegemony of the U.S. dollar and to fill the void created by the declining holdings by central banks of the euro."

Brien Lundin, editor of Gold Newsletter. told MarketWatch that "there is much evidence that  [China’s] holdings are actually at those higher levels, which makes one wonder why they would feel compelled to understate the total now."