Gold holdings in the Russian Central Bank’s reserves have fallen to a six-year low
20 August 21:54
The Bank of Russia’s gold reserves continue to decline sharply and, as of August 1 of this year, had fallen to 73.2 million troy ounces, or 2,280 metric tons, according to "Komersant Ukrainian", citing Bloomberg.
This is the lowest level in more than six years—since January 2020. In July, reserves decreased by 0.2 million ounces, and since the beginning of the year, they have fallen by approximately 50 metric tons. Over the past seven months, the value of gold in the reserves has declined by $33.7 billion.
The decline in reserves began after a long period of virtually uninterrupted growth. The Bank of Russia was the world’s largest government buyer of gold, but it halted purchases in early 2020, Bloomberg notes.
According to the Central Bank, as of early 2025, the volume of gold in international reserves reached 75 million troy ounces. Throughout 2025, the figure remained virtually unchanged, but in 2026 it began to decline steadily: as of January 1, reserves stood at 74.8 million ounces; as of February 1, at 74.5 million; on March 1—74.3 million, on April 1—74.1 million, on May 1—73.9 million, on June 1—73.4 million, and on August 1—73.2 million ounces.
This decline is linked to the Bank of Russia’s operations in the domestic market, which mirror the Ministry of Finance’s transactions involving the National Welfare Fund (NWF).
“When oil and gas revenues fall below the level stipulated by the budget rule, or when the fund’s resources are directed toward domestic investments, the Bank of Russia conducts offsetting transactions using liquid reserve assets. In this case, the Central Bank performs the technical part of the mechanism rather than making a separate decision to cover the budget deficit by selling gold,” explained Freedom Global analyst Vladimir Chernov.
Gold has proven to be one of the most convenient assets for such operations. The bulk of it is stored within Russia and remains accessible to the Bank of Russia. The ability to use part of the foreign exchange reserves is limited following the freezing of approximately $300 billion in Russian assets abroad.
The scale of the reduction in gold reserves is virtually unprecedented in Russian history. According to the World Gold Council, the Russian Central Bank recorded a comparable decline in reserves only in 2002: at that time, gold reserves fell by 36.1 metric tons over six months. During the pandemic, sales were lower: from July 2020 to April 2021, the Bank of Russia sold a total of just 7.6 metric tons of gold.
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