Poland became the largest gold buyer among the world’s central banks in January-August 2026, increasing its reserves by approximately 98 tonnes, according to an Experts Club analysis based on World Gold Council (WGC) data published on October 6.
In August, global central banks continued actively increasing their gold reserves, purchasing another 39 tonnes on a net basis compared with 23 tonnes a month earlier. However, the ranking of cumulative purchases since the beginning of the year differs noticeably from the results of August alone.
According to the WGC, the largest gold buyers in January-August 2026 included:
Poland – about 98 tonnes
China – about 80 tonnes
Uzbekistan – about 50 tonnes
Kazakhstan – about 36 tonnes
Czech Republic – about 14 tonnes
The National Bank of Poland retained first place thanks to the continuation of its large-scale precious metal accumulation programme. In August alone, the Polish central bank purchased another approximately 7.8 tonnes.
As a result, Poland’s gold holdings approached 648 tonnes, while the National Bank’s strategic target is 700 tonnes.
China ranks second. In August, the People’s Bank of China was the largest buyer in the world, increasing its reserves by as much as 20.2 tonnes.
In January-August, China purchased about 80 tonnes of gold, while its official gold reserves reached approximately 2,387 tonnes. Gold accounts for about 9% of the country’s international reserves.
At the same time, China has continued buying the precious metal for 22 consecutive months, making it one of the most consistent buyers among the world’s largest central banks.
Uzbekistan ranks third, having increased its gold reserves by approximately 50 tonnes since the beginning of the year. In August, the country purchased another approximately 7.8 tonnes. The total volume of gold in Uzbekistan’s reserves reached approximately 439 tonnes, with the precious metal accounting for about 90% of the country’s international reserves.
Kazakhstan ranks fourth, with purchases of approximately 36 tonnes over eight months. In August, the National Bank of Kazakhstan added about 7.4 tonnes, bringing its gold holdings to approximately 377 tonnes. Gold accounts for about 79% of the country’s international reserves.
The Czech Republic rounds out the top five largest buyers. The Czech National Bank purchased 14 tonnes since the beginning of the year, including approximately 1.7 tonnes in August. The country’s total gold reserves reached around 86 tonnes.
Notably, the Czech Republic has been increasing its gold holdings for 42 consecutive months, implementing one of the most consistent reserve expansion programmes among European central banks.
At the same time, Turkey and Russia became the largest gold sellers since the beginning of 2026. Turkey reduced its reserves by approximately 82 tonnes, although in August it returned to purchases and bought about 2.9 tonnes. Russia sold about 56 tonnes in January-August, including approximately 6.2 tonnes in August.
The World Gold Council notes that the continued presence of the same countries among active buyers indicates the long-term nature of gold accumulation policies. Monthly changes in purchase volumes largely reflect the implementation schedules of these programmes, market conditions and the liquidity needs of individual countries.
According to the WGC, in January-August 2026 central banks reported net purchases of approximately 170 tonnes of gold. At the same time, officially recorded changes in reserves do not necessarily reflect total public-sector demand, as some central bank transactions become known with a delay or are not disclosed.
The World Gold Council regularly tracks changes in central banks’ official gold reserves based on data from the International Monetary Fund, national regulators and other official sources. The WGC regards central bank demand as one of the key factors in the global gold market.
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The Central Bank of Russia became the largest gold seller among the world’s central banks in August 2026, reducing its official gold reserves by approximately 6.2 tonnes, according to an Experts Club analysis based on data from the World Gold Council (WGC).
Among the notable gold sellers in August, the WGC highlights:
Russia – about 6.2 tonnes
Jordan – about 3.1 tonnes
Russia continued reducing its gold reserves after selling approximately 6 tonnes in July. In total, in January-August 2026, Russia’s official gold reserves decreased by approximately 56 tonnes.
Following the August sale, the amount of gold in Russia’s reserves stood at about 2,271 tonnes.
Jordan sold about 3.1 tonnes of gold in August. However, unlike Russia, the country remains a net buyer after the first eight months of the year: since the beginning of 2026, its gold reserves have increased by approximately 2 tonnes to 75 tonnes. Gold accounts for about 37% of Jordan’s international reserves.
At the same time, Turkey remains the largest gold seller for January-August, despite switching to purchases in August.
According to the WGC, Turkey has reduced its gold reserves by approximately 82 tonnes since the beginning of the year. The bulk of the sales occurred in the first quarter of 2026. In August, the trend changed, with the Turkish central bank purchasing about 2.9 tonnes of gold.
Russia ranks second among the largest sellers since the beginning of the year, with about 56 tonnes.
Thus, August showed a significant predominance of buyers over sellers: the world’s central banks collectively purchased 39 tonnes of gold on a net basis, compared with 23 tonnes in July.
The World Gold Council notes that the data cover officially reported changes in the reserves of central banks and other official institutions and may differ from the broader estimate of global central bank demand, which takes into account unreported purchases.
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World central banks in July, according to preliminary estimates of the World Gold Council (WGC), increased the amount of gold in their gold reserves by 37.1 tons.
The largest buyers were Poland (14.3 tons), Uzbekistan (9.6 tons) and India (5.4 tons). Jordan (4.3 tons), Turkey (3.8 tons), Qatar (2.3 tons), Czech Republic (1.6 tons), Egypt and Malta (0.1 tons each) also increased their reserves
Kazakhstan (3.9 tons) and Mongolia (0.7 tons) sold gold.
“Central banks have remained committed to hoarding gold in recent months. While the overall level of demand cooled slightly as the gold price continued to rise to new highs, it nevertheless remained positive,” WGC analyst Krishan Gopaul said in a review.
World central banks in January, according to preliminary estimates of the World Gold Council (WGC), purchased in gold and foreign exchange reserves of 39 tons of gold.
This is more than double the specified volumes of December (16.9 tons) and makes January the eighth consecutive month of growth, notes WGC analyst Krishan Gopaul in his review.
The largest buyers in January were again Turkey (11.8 tons) and China (10 tons). Also bought gold in reserves India (8.7 tons), Kazakhstan (6.2 tons), Jordan (3.1 tons), Czech Republic (1.7 tons) and others.
Significant sales were reported only by the Central Bank of Russia (3.1 tons, according to WGC). This repeats a trend since 2021, Gopaul notes: a decline in stocks of about 3 tons followed by replenishment. “We believe this activity is related to the country’s coinage program,” he explains.
In June, the world central banks returned to gold purchases and, according to preliminary estimates of the World Gold Council (WGC), purchased 55.4 tons of gold into the gold and foreign exchange reserves. For comparison: in May, according to revised data, there was an outflow of 26.6 tons.
In June, Turkey returned to purchases (increased its reserves by 11.4 tons), which supported the general trend. The largest buyer was China (21.2 tons), as well as Poland (13.7 tons), Uzbekistan (8.4 tons), Czech Republic (2.5 tons), Qatar (1.6 tons), etc. were buying gold for reserves.
Only Kazakhstan (3.2 tons) and Singapore (1 ton) turned out to be large net sellers.
World central banks, according to preliminary data, bought 19.6 tons of gold in gold reserves in August, follows from the data of the World Gold Council (WGC).
This is the fifth consecutive month of growth, although its pace is declining, said WGC analyst Krishan Gopaul.
Turkey, the biggest buyer of gold this year, added another 8.9 tons to its reserves. In total, since the beginning of the year, it has purchased 84 tons of gold and brought its volume in reserves to 478.2 tons.
Uzbekistan bought 8.7 tons of gold in August, from the beginning of the year – 19.3 tons, increasing reserves to 381.3 tons.
In third place in terms of purchases in August was Kazakhstan with 2 tons, although in total since the beginning of the year it has reduced the volume of gold in reserves by 27.6 tons, to 374.8 tons.
Gopaul notes that according to the Central Bank of Qatar, he also bought gold in August, but so far the exact figures have not been disclosed and therefore are not reflected in the WGC statistics.
