i haven't seen the 2008 silver surveys yet, so i don't have any hard information on last year. in 2006 net government sales were 77.7 million ounces, up slightly from 65.9 million ounces in 2005.

<<Net government sales crept up to 77.7 Moz in 2006. The increase in government sales in 2006 was the result of marked increases in Russian sales, coupled with ongoing sales from Indian government silver stocks. Elsewhere, a decline in sales from China partly offset these increases.>>

by the end of 2005, india was down to only 51.1 million oz. left, so their sales probably won't go on much longer. it appears the russians were still selling in 2006, but now that they are diversifying out of the us dollar, i doubt they will do that much longer, if they still are at all.

gold sales by central banks are regulated, if that is the right word to use, by the washington agreement, and limited to 500 tons per year, so those are publicized. i'm not aware of any requirement to make silver sales public.

http://www.silverinstitute.org/news/...