Central banks, led by People’s Bank of China (PBoC), continued buying gold across the world in July with net buying being 23 tonnes, the World Gold Council (WGC) said.
“Emerging markets continued to accumulate gold this month with China (20 tonnes) and Poland (8 tonnes) taking the lead. Notably, activity from the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has picked up pace in recent months, with double-digit monthly purchases of gold since May 2026,” said Marissa Salim, Senior Research Lead, APAC, World Gold Council.
Russia continued selling the yellow metal, offloading 6 tonnes from its reserves, while Turkey, Jordan and Uzbekistan sold one tonne each.
130 tonnes net
On a year-to-date basis, central banks have purchased about 130 tonnes of gold. However, it is lower than the 160 tonnes bought during the same period a year ago.
Salim said the National Bank of Poland continued accumulating gold in July. Poland tops when it comes to year-to-date gold purchases. It has bought 90 tonnes so far this year.
Warsaw has accumulated 640 tonnes of gold so far against its target to accumulate 700 tonnes or some 28 per cent of its total reserves.
PBoC continued to add gold to its reserves for the 21st month in a row. Year-to-date, it has purchased 60 tonnes for its reserves. Gold now makes up 8 per cent of Beijing reserves at 2,366 tonnes, the sixth highest in the world.
Russian YTD sales 50 t
The Czech National Bank bought 2 tonnes of gold in July. It was the 41st consecutive month of net purchases. Year-to-date, it has purchased 12 tonnes, raising its gold holding to 6 per cent (84 tonnes) of its total reserves.
TheNational Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Central Bank of Bolivia (CBB) each bought 1 tonnes of gold in July. Year-to-date, NBK has accumulated 29 tonnes of gold and is one of the top five gold accumulators globally.
Kazakhstan’s gold holdings are at 75 per cent of its total reserves. Both the BNM and the CBB are relatively new entrants to the gold market, with gold holdings so far this year at 6 tonnes and 2 tonnes, respectively.
The Central Bank of Russia continued selling the yellow metal. It offloaded another 6 tonnes of gold. Russia has sold 50 tonnes of the precious metal year-to-date. Moscow’s total gold holdings have dropped to 2,277 tonnes.
With the sale of 1 tonnes, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey has sold 85 tonnes this year. Despite selling in July, the Central Bank of Uzbekistan gold purchases are 40 tonnes this year. With 43 tonnes in its reserves, gold makes up 87 per cent of Uzbekistan’s total reserves.
Banks’ buying spree since 2024
Russia has been selling the precious metal to cover its budget deficit, as defence expenditure has risen due to the Ukraine war. It has also been losing oil and gas revenues due to Western sanctions. The Western nations, led by the US and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), have frozen Russians’ foreign assets. This has forced Moscow to liquidate physical gold and alternative reserves like the Chinese yuan.
Turkey sold and swapped 58-60 tonnes of gold worth $8 billion to protect its currency, the lira, and its foreign exchange reserves.
Gold buying by central banks has been one of the major reasons for the yellow metal to rally splendidly since 2024. It peaked at $5,608 an ounce on January 29.
However, after the Iran war broke out, it has shed over 20 per cent of its gains on fears of inflation, hopes of the US Fed increasing interest rates and investors switching to energy commodities.
On Thursday, gold traded at $4,444 an ounce, down 3 per cent since the beginning of this week on renewed US-Iran dispute.
Published on September 3, 2026
