{"id":14916,"date":"2025-02-13T02:53:41","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T02:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/13\/top-10-central-bank-gold-reserves\/"},"modified":"2025-02-13T02:53:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T02:53:41","slug":"top-10-central-bank-gold-reserves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/13\/top-10-central-bank-gold-reserves\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 Central Bank Gold Reserves"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Global central banks own about 17 percent of all the gold ever mined, with reserves topping<\/strong> 36,699 metric tons (MT) as of year-end 2023. They acquired the vast majority <\/strong>in the years after becoming net buyers of the metal in 2010.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tCentral banks purchase gold for a number of reasons: to mitigate risk, to hedge against inflation and to promote economic stability. Increased concerns over another global financial crisis have as expected led central banks once again to build up their gold reserves.<\/p>\n

\tIn a mid-2024 survey, the World Gold Council (WGC) said that 81 percent of the central bankers it polled expect global gold reserves to increase over the next 12 months. The precious metal\u2019s \u201clong-term store of value\u201d as a guiding factor in gold purchases was cited by 42 percent of respondents.<\/p>\n

\tCentral banks added 1,044.6 MT of gold to their vaults in 2024, the third year in a row that gold purchases in this segment surpassed the 1,000 MT mark. In the fourth quarter of 2024 alone, central banks picked up another record 332.9 MT of gold, reported the WGC.<\/p>\n

<\/small><\/p>\n

Chart via the WGC<\/em><\/em>.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

Twenty-nine percent of the WGC\u2019s survey respondents indicated plans to grow their gold reserves, up 5 percent from the previous year. Three percent reported their institution is planning to decrease its gold holdings, which was unchanged from the previous year.<\/p>\n

The WGC believes that central bank gold purchases will continue to be a major driver of gold demand in 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Which central banks hold the most gold? <\/h3>\n

Read on to find out the 10 top countries by central bank gold holdings, as per data from the WGC, including recent Q4 2024 and full-year 2024 reports.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

1. United States <\/h3>\n

Gold reserves: <\/strong>8,133.46 metric tons<\/p>\n

When it comes to the largest gold depository in the world, the American central bank is number one with 8,133.46 metric tons. <\/p>\n

A large percentage of US gold is held in \u201cdeep storage\u201d in Denver, Fort Knox and West Point. As the US Treasury explains, deep storage is \u201cthat portion of the US Government-owned gold bullion reserve which the Mint secures in sealed vaults that are examined annually by the Treasury Department\u2019s Office of the Inspector General and consists primarily of gold bars.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rest of US-owned reserves are held as working stock, which the country\u2019s mint uses as raw material to mint congressionally authorized coins.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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2. Germany <\/h3>\n

Gold Reserves:<\/strong> 3,351.53 metric tons<\/p>\n

The Bundesbank, Germany\u2019s central bank, currently owns 3,351.53 metric tons of gold. Like many of the central banks on this list, the German national bank stores over half of its stock in foreign locations in New York, London and France.<\/p>\n

The Bundesbank\u2019s foreign gold reserves came into question in 2012, when the German Federal Court of Auditors, the Bundesrechnungshof, was openly critical of the Bundesbank\u2019s gold auditing.<\/p>\n

In response, the German bank issued a public statement defending the security of foreign banks. Privately, the Bundesbank then began the arduous process of repatriating its gold stock back to German soil. By 2016, more than 583 MT of gold had been transferred back to Germany.<\/p>\n

Nearly half of Germany\u2019s gold holdings are stored in Frankfurt, while more than a third are in New York, an eighth of its holdings are in London, and a miniscule amount are held in in Paris.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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3. Italy <\/h3>\n

Gold Reserves:<\/strong> 2,451.84 metric tons<\/p>\n

Banca d\u2019Italia, the national bank of Italy, began amassing its gold in 1893, when three separate financial institutions merged into one. From there, its 78 MT slowly grew into the 2,451.84 MT the country now owns.<\/p>\n

Like Germany, Italy stores parts of its reserves offshore. In total, 141.2 MT are located in the UK, 149.3 are in Switzerland and 1,061 are kept in the US Federal Reserve. Italy houses 1,100 MT of gold domestically.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

4. France <\/h3>\n

Gold Reserves: <\/span><\/strong>2,437 metric tons<\/p>\n

The Banque de France has 2,437 MT of gold reserves, all of which it keeps on hand. The precious metal is stored in the bank\u2019s secure underground vault, dubbed La Souterraine, which is located 27 meters below street level.<\/p>\n

La Souterraine\u2019s gold vaults are one of the four designated gold depositories of the International Monetary Fund.<\/p>\n

According to Investopedia, the collapse of the Bretton Woods gold standard system was in part due to former French President Charles de Gaulle, who \u201ccalled the U.S. bluff and began actually trading dollars in for gold from the Fort Knox reserves.\u201d At the time, US President Richard Nixon \u201cwas forced to take the U.S. off the gold standard, ending the dollar\u2019s automatic convertibility into gold.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

5. Russia <\/h3>\n

Gold Reserves: <\/span><\/strong>2,332.74 metric tons*<\/p>\n

The Bank of Russia is the official central bank of the Russian Federation and owns 2,332.74 MT of gold. Like France, Russia\u2019s central bank has opted to store all its physical gold domestically. The Bank of Russia stores two-thirds of its gold reserves in a bank building in Moscow, and the remaining one-third in Saint Petersburg.<\/p>\n

The majority of the yellow metal is in the form of large, variable-weight standard gold bars weighing between 10 and 14 kilograms. There are also smaller bars on site weighing as much as 1 kilogram each.<\/p>\n

Russia, which is the second largest gold producer by country, has been a steady purchaser of the precious metal since roughly 2007, with sales ramping up significantly between 2015 and 2020. However, Russia\u2019s refineries were banned from selling gold bullion into the London market following the country\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. Sanctions by the west also include a freeze on about half of Russia\u2019s gold reserves.<\/p>\n

In early 2022, Russia tied its currency, the ruble, to the yellow metal. \u2018The plan was to shift the currency away from a pegged value and into the gold standard itself so the ruble would become a credible gold substitute at a fixed rate,\u2019 according to Robert Huish, an Associate Professor in International Development Studies at Dalhousie University.<\/p>\n

*This figure does not reflect year-end 2024, including the at least 3.1 MT purchased in 2024, per the WGC, which is awaiting further data to update the 2024 total.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

6. China <\/h3>\n

Gold Reserves:<\/strong> 2,279.56 metric tons<\/p>\n

The central bank for Mainland China is the People\u2019s Bank of China (PBoC), located in Beijing. According to the WGC, the national financial institute stores 2,279.56 MT of gold, most which has been purchased since 2000. In 2001, the PBoC had 400 MT of gold in reserve, but in just a little more than two decades that total has climbed by 459 percent.<\/p>\n

The PBoC issues the Panda gold coin, which was first created in 1982. The Panda coin is now one of the top five bullion coins issued by a central bank. It is among the ranks of the American Eagle, Canadian Maple Leaf, South African Krugerrand and Australian Gold Nugget.<\/p>\n

The PBoC was one of the top gold buyers out the world\u2019s central banks for 2024, purchasing another 44 MT of gold during the year. April 2024 marked the 18th consecutive month of gold buying for China\u2019s central bank, which paused its purchases afterward until picking them up again in November.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

7. Switzerland <\/h3>\n

Gold Reserves: <\/strong>1,039.94 metric tons<\/p>\n

Holding the seventh largest central bank gold reserves is the Swiss National Bank. Its 1,039.94 MT of gold are owned by the state of Switzerland, but the central bank manages and maintains the reserve.<\/p>\n

After years of opaqueness regarding the country\u2019s golden treasure trove, the Swiss Gold Initiative, or Save our Swiss Gold campaign, was launched in 2011.<\/p>\n

The publicity culminated in a national referendum in 2014, asking citizens to vote on three proposals. The first was a mandate for all reserve gold to be held physically in Switzerland. The other two dealt with the central bank\u2019s ability to sell its gold reserves, along with a decree that 20 percent of the Swiss bank\u2019s assets be held in gold.<\/p>\n

The referendum was unsuccessful, but did prompt the bank to be more transparent. In a 2013 release, the central bank reported that 70 percent of its gold reserve was held domestically, 20 percent was located at the Bank of England and 10 percent was stored with the Bank of Canada.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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8. India <\/h3>\n

Gold Reserves: <\/strong>876.18 metric tons<\/p>\n

The Reserve Bank of India is another central bank that has fervently acted to increase its holdings in recent years. It began adding to its gold assets in 2017; however, the majority of its purchases have taken place in the past four years.<\/p>\n

Strikingly, after India\u2019s central bank purchased 16 MT of gold in 2023, the institution scooped up another 72 MT of the precious metal in 2024. <\/p>\n

While more than half of its gold is held overseas in safe custody with the Bank of England and the Bank of International Settlements, about a third of its gold is held domestically. In June 2024, India repatriated 100 MT of gold from the United Kingdom. This was the first time since 1991 that the Reserve Bank of India moved its overseas gold holdings back home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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9. Japan <\/h3>\n

Gold Reserves: <\/strong>845.97 metric tons<\/p>\n

Public information about the Bank of Japan\u2019s gold reserves is hard to come by. In 2000, the island nation was holding approximately 753 MT of the yellow metal. By 2004, the Bank of Japan\u2019s gold store had grown to 765.2 MT, and remained at that level until March 2021, when the country purchased 80.76 MT of gold.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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10. Netherlands <\/h3>\n

Gold Reserves: <\/strong>612.45 metric tons<\/p>\n

Rounding out this list of the top central bank gold reserves is the Dutch National Bank (DNB), the central bank of the Netherlands. Like Switzerland, the Dutch central bank stores as much as 38 percent of its gold in Canada\u2019s national reserve. Another 31 percent, in the form of 15,000 gold bars, is held in a domestic vault, while the remaining 31 percent is located in New York\u2019s Federal Reserve bank.<\/p>\n

In a report, the DNB describes gold as the supreme safe-haven asset. \u201cCentral banks such as DNB have therefore traditionally had a lot of gold in stock. After all, gold is the ultimate nest egg: the trust anchor for the financial system,\u201d it reads. \u201cIf the entire system collapses, the gold supply provides collateral to start over. Gold gives confidence in the strength of the central bank\u2019s balance sheet. That gives a safe feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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*11. International Monetary Fund <\/h3>\n

Gold Reserves: <\/strong>2,814.1 metric tons<\/p>\n

The gold reserve held by the International Monetary Fund is the third largest in terms of size. The large gold reserve was amassed primarily during the founding of the international organization in 1944.<\/p>\n

In that inaugural year, it was decided that \u201c25 percent of initial quota subscriptions and subsequent quota increases were to be paid in gold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 1944, the International Monetary Fund has added gold through the repayment of debts owed by member countries. Nations can also exchange gold for another member country\u2019s currency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
This post appeared first on investingnews.com<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Global central banks own about 17 percent of all the gold ever mined, with reserves topping 36,699 metric tons (MT) as of year-end 2023. They acquired the vast majority in the years after becoming net buyers of the metal in 2010. Central banks purchase gold for a number of reasons: to mitigate risk, to hedge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":14917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}