Central banks: new record high for global gold reserves

At the end of 2024, central banks’ official gold reserves had increased for the 16th consecutive year. According to the latest figures from the World Gold Council, following further purchases in 2025, they stood at just under 36,200 tonnes (as of 1 April 2025). At the time of the global financial crisis, global gold reserves were 30,002 tonnes. They have since increased by 20.7 per cent, the highest level since the end of the Bretton Woods system, which had required participating countries to hold enormous gold reserves.  

Central banks now account for 20 per cent of total gold demand

In 2022, 2023 and 2024, gold purchases by central banks worldwide exceeded 1,000 tonnes per year for the first time, accounting for one-fifth of total gold demand. This level of demand is only exceeded by the jewellery industry, with an average of around 2,000 tonnes, as well as gold buyers seeking to invest or use the precious metal as a store of value via gold funds and gold-backed ETCs, or bullions and high-purity gold coins such as Krugerrand, Maple Leaf, Britannia or Vienna Philharmonic. 

Could the gold rush driven by central banks continue?

One of the main reasons for the steady expansion of the official gold reserves is to protect central banks against sharp currency fluctuations. The numerous geopolitical hotspots and increased volatility on the international capital markets in recent years have fuelled central banks’ appetite for gold. The repeated threats of trade wars over the last months, including mutual punitive tariffs, have done little to ease the situation. Efforts, particularly by emerging economies, to gain greater independence from the dominant foreign reserve currency, the US dollar, are also likely to continue. In view of these factors, it seems possible that 2025 will be another year of gold purchases by central banks, although we did see a slight slowdown of purchases in the first quarter.