Central Banks
5 February, 2025
- Central banks add 1,045t to global gold reserves in 20241
- The National Bank of Poland led the charge (90t) but demand was seen from a broad range of emerging market banks
- By comparison, reported selling during the year appeared tactical and more modest.
| Tonnes | 2023 | 2024 | Year-on-year % change |
|
|
Central banks and other institutions |
1,050.8 | 1,044.6 | -1 |
|
Central banks’ insatiable appetite for gold reached a significant milestone in 2024. Having added 712t in the first three quarters of the year, central banks bought a further 333t in Q4 to bring the net annual total to 1,045t. As a result, they have extended their buying streak to 15 consecutive years, and, remarkably, 2024 is the third consecutive year in which demand surpassed 1,000t – far exceeding the 473t annual average between 2010-2021, and contributing to gold’s annual performance.
Gold has long proven to be a beacon of financial confidence and stability. In our 2024 Central Bank Gold Reserves Survey respondents were clear that the central banking community would continue to increase its allocations to gold in the near term. But while central bank demand itself should come as little surprise, the continued strength of demand exceeded even our already-lofty expectations.
Beyond the general purchasing trend there have been notable changes in the gold reserves of specific central banks.2 Similar to the previous 14 years, activity in 2024 was driven by a broad range of emerging market banks.
The National Bank of Poland (NBP) was the largest gold buyer during the year, adding a further 90t to its gold reserves. The bank’s President, Adam Glapiński, has been a vocal proponent of owning gold and has previously been open about raising the NBP’s gold allocation to 20% of total reserves.3 Following the accumulation last year, the bank’s gold reserves stood at 448t at the end of 2024; 17% of its total international reserves.
But Poland was far from the only central bank in the region to buy gold:
- The Czech National Bank continued its steady accumulation of gold, adding 20t to its reserves during the year, slightly more than in 2023. This has lifted the bank’s total gold holdings to over 50t, a more-than threefold increase since the end of 2022
- The Central Bank of Hungary (MNB) announced a 16t increase in its gold reserves in September. The MNB’s first addition since March 2021 lifted its gold reserves from 94t to 110t. The bank cited greater economic uncertainty as a key rationale for the purchase.4
- Elsewhere in central and eastern Europe, the National Bank of Serbia (8t) and the National Bank of Georgia (7t) were notable buyers.
As in previous years, the Central Bank of Turkey (CBRT) was a sizeable gold buyer. The CBRT increased its official gold reserves – central bank and Treasury holdings – by 75t during the year.5 There was no repeat of the selling seen in 2023, although average monthly buying was more modest in 2024 by comparison.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was once again a major purchaser in 2024, having bought gold every month before leaving reserves unchanged in December. Its annual purchases totalled 73t, more than four times the level of its gold buying in 2023 (16t). The bank remained somewhat tight-lipped about its activity, with previous RBI Governor, Shaktikanta Das, stating in April: “…we are building up gold reserves, the data is released from time to time…”.6 At the end of 2024 RBI gold reserves totalled 876t, or 11% of total reserves.
The RBI was one of two banks – the other was the Central Bank of Nigeria7 – to disclose that it repatriated gold from overseas in 2024.8 As we have noted previously: “such activity represents a change only in location – not ownership – of gold, and therefore has no impact on our demand estimates. It does, however, highlight the fact that some banks place importance on domestic storage of gold.”
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC), reported buying 44t of gold during the year. The bank bought 29t between January and April, after which it reported no changes to its gold reserves for six months before buying resumed in November. At the end of 2024 the bank reported holding 2,280t of gold, still accounting for 5% of its total international reserves.
The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, resumed gold buying this year. Having bought 72t between 2018-2020, it added a further 25t in the first three quarters of 2024. At the time of writing, Q4 data was unavailable. At the end of Q3, gold accounted for just under 18% of the fund’s investment portfolio.
Beyond this, the long tail of other buyers included: the Central Bank of Iraq (20t), Central Bank of Uzbekistan (11t), Bank of Ghana (11t), National Bank of Kyrgyz Republic (6t), Central Bank of Oman (4t), Central Bank of Russia (3t, likely for coin minting purposes), and Central Bank of Zimbabwe (1t).
Selling activity was also seen throughout the year, although in most cases appearing more tactical than strategic in the face of a rapidly rising gold price, as well as in more modest volumes than the purchases seen elsewhere.
In Q3, the Central Bank of the Philippines confirmed that the rising gold price was responsible for its gold sales between March and August – totalling 30t – and formed part of an active management strategy around its gold reserves.9 Based on available data, the bank resumed modest gold purchases in September and October.
In April a Bloomberg report stated that the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) may resume gold sales owing to the “positive dynamics” of the gold price. The bank sold gold each month between May and September. And while it resumed buying in Q3, the net annual result was a 10t decline in its gold reserves.
In a more recent development, the NBK announced in January that it will use the proceeds of international gold sales to mop up excess domestic liquidity in order to help it achieve its aim of reducing inflation to 5%.10 The transactions will have no impact on the foreign exchange or gold reserves held at the NBK, but instead allow the bank to use gold to help support its monetary policy.11
While on the face of it the Bank of Thailand appears to be the second largest seller of 2024, the bank noted that: “The reduction was not due to any gold sale.” The bank further clarified: “Starting March 29, 2024, monetary gold is revised to be in line with gold reported in International Reserves and to comply with IMF definition where only gold with a purity of at least 995/1,000 should be recorded.” 12
Other notable net sellers over the course of the year were: the Monetary Authority of Singapore (10t), Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten (4t), the Bundesbank (1t, likely related to its coin-minting programme), and the Central Bank of Cabo Verde (1t).
Reported purchases, however, do not always paint a full picture. Disclosures by central banks often come with a lag. In addition, other official institutions, such as sovereign wealth funds, rarely ever publish their holdings. As such, the IMF IFS data only reflects 34% of our total official sector demand estimate for 2024 – down from 47% last year.
Central banks have been net buyers for the last 15 years, yet their hunger for gold shows no sign of being quelled. And while forecasting the level of demand for any specific central bank is particularly difficult, given that it is often dictated by policy, we can look to the macroeconomic environment, in addition to their collective actions and the drivers of these, as guidance for might lie ahead. Following the colossal buying in 2022 and 2023, net purchases in 2024 surpassed our expectations. Geopolitical and economic uncertainty remains high in 2025 and it seems as likely as ever that central banks will once again turn to gold as a stable strategic asset. For more on this, please see the Outlook section.
Footnotes
-
Central bank demand presented here comprises aggregate reported changes as well as an estimate for unreported buying. This differs from our monthly central bank statistics, which consist solely of reported changes.
-
Country-level data is based on reported figures available at the time of writing. Revisions may occur as more data is released.
-
Turkey data for December 2024 was delayed at time of publication.
-
The bank, which has the right to purchase domestically-mined gold destined for export, will sell the gold it buys from domestic producers onto the international market in exchange for dollars. It will then sell the equivalent amount of US dollars into the domestic market in exchange for domestic currency, thereby helping to support its value.
