Central Bank Gold Buying 2022-2026: The Numbers, the Revisions and What They Mean for Retirement Savers

Central bank gold buying reached 863 tonnes in 2025, after three years above 1,000 tonnes, according to World Gold Council estimates published in January 2026. How solid are those numbers, and should they change what you do with retirement savings? A central bank is a country's own bank, which holds its reserves. A tonne is 1,000 kilograms, or 32,150.7 troy ounces. The World Gold Council is the gold mining industry's trade body, and the research firm Metals Focus compiles its numbers.

Central banks are one of several forces behind how precious metals behave; this page covers the official buyers. Below you find the yearly numbers, the revisions, the buyers and the sellers, and the reasons the banks give. Then come the 1999 to 2019 sales agreements, the effect on the gold price and what it all means for a saver.

Every number below shows when it was published, because four of them were changed later.

How Much Gold Are Central Banks Buying? 2022 to 2026 in Tonnes#

Central banks bought a net 1,082 tonnes of gold in 2022, 1,050.8 in 2023, 1,092.4 in 2024 and 863 in 2025, on the World Gold Council's latest figures. They added 345 tonnes in the first half of 2026. "Net purchases" means buying minus selling. One tonne is 32,150.7 troy ounces. The dollar values use the LBMA Gold Price PM, the afternoon benchmark price set in London, averaged over each period.

The table below lists central bank net purchases by period, with the month each figure was published.

Net purchases = buying minus selling. Value = tonnes × 32,150.7466 × the period's average LBMA Gold Price PM as reported by the World Gold Council; SafeOunce computation. Q1 and Q2 add to 346 tonnes; the World Gold Council prints 345 tonnes for the half (rounding). Source: World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends, full-year 2023 to Q2 2026.

From 2022 to 2025 central banks added 4,088.2 tonnes, an average of 1,022 a year. That is 2.16 times the 473 tonnes a year they averaged from 2010 to 2021. Is the pace still rising? No. The 2025 total was 21% below 2024. The World Gold Council (July 2026) called the first half of 2026 "the lowest for a first half since 2022". Because the figures are net, some banks sold. The sellers are named further down this page.

Fewer tonnes did not mean fewer dollars. The LBMA PM price set 53 all-time highs in 2025 and averaged $3,431, up 44% (World Gold Council, January 2026). So the banks bought 21% fewer tonnes and still spent more: about $95.2 billion in 2025 against about $83.8 billion in 2024 (SafeOunce computation).

What a tonne of central bank gold is worth in ounces and dollars#

One tonne of gold is 32,150.7 troy ounces, worth about $133.3 million at the LBMA PM price of $4,144.55 on September 28, 2026. Gold is weighed in the troy ounce, which is about 10% heavier than a kitchen ounce. One troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams. It is the ounce used for metals.

Three comparisons put the tonnage in scale.

• 2025 buying: 863 tonnes are 27.7 million ounces, about $95.2 billion at the 2025 average price of $3,431.
• 2022 to 2025 buying: 4,088.2 tonnes are 131.4 million ounces, about $307 billion at each year's average price.
• A $100,000 gold IRA: the money equals about 24 ounces at the September 28, 2026 benchmark price, before any markup. That is 0.00075 tonne.

Central banks deal in a size that no saver comes near. That gap matters later, when a seller asks you to follow them. The yearly buying is also small next to what the banks already hold. The World Gold Council's Gold Reserves by Country page (September 2026) says central banks hold "around a fifth of all the gold that has been mined".

The Revisions: Why the Same Year Has Two Central Bank Gold Buying Numbers#

Central bank gold buying numbers are estimates that are revised after publication, so the same year can appear with two different totals depending on when a page was written. Three words help here. A vintage is the publication date of a data set. A revision is a later change to a published number. An erratum is a published correction of a mistake.

The table below shows each period's first published figure next to its latest one.

Source: World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends, full-year 2022 to Q2 2026 (data by Metals Focus). Percentages: SafeOunce computation.

Annual totals moved by 1% to 5% in either direction. One quarter moved by 77%. So what do you do with a central bank number you read elsewhere? Look for the month it was published. A page that gives no date gives you no way to check the figure.

The July 2026 erratum: Q1 2026 was cut from 244 tonnes to 57 tonnes#

In July 2026 the World Gold Council corrected its first-quarter 2026 central bank figure from 244 tonnes to 57 tonnes, a cut of 77%. The notice sits on the Gold Demand Trends Q1 2026 report and reads as follows.

The 187 tonnes that moved are 6.0 million ounces. At the quarter's average LBMA PM price of $4,873 they were worth about $29.3 billion (SafeOunce computation). The April 2026 report had described first-quarter buying as "+3% y/y", which means 3% above the year before. It also noted "a visible uptick in selling activity". Three months later, the July 2026 report called the same quarter "a notable Q1 slowdown". Pages written between April and July 2026 still carry 244 tonnes. On October 2, 2026, one gold seller's blog on page one of Google still had 244 tonnes in its headline.

How much central bank gold buying is estimated, not reported#

More than half of the central bank gold buying counted for 2025 was estimated: the World Gold Council put the unreported share at 57% of the 863 tonnes. The table below quotes what the World Gold Council said about that share in three of its yearly reports.

The 57% share of 863 tonnes is about 492 tonnes estimated and about 371 tonnes reported (SafeOunce computation). Why is the gap so wide? Central banks report their holdings to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and its reserves statistics are called IFS. The World Gold Council notes that "IFS data are two months in arrears", and some banks do not report every purchase.

The estimate also counts more buyers than the IMF data do. Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti of the Brookings Institution wrote on February 2, 2026 that it includes "other official institutions such as sovereign wealth funds". A sovereign wealth fund is a state-owned investment fund.

Three counts of the same buying: IMF reports, World Gold Council estimates and bank models#

Three different counts of central bank gold buying circulate, and they do not match because they measure different things. The table below sets the three counts side by side with one recent value each.

Before comparing two numbers, check that they are the same count and the same period.

Which Central Banks Buy the Most Gold, and Which Ones Sell?#

Poland was the largest reported gold buyer in 2025 (102 tonnes) and in the second quarter of 2026 (51 tonnes), while Russia was that quarter's largest seller (22 tonnes). These names come from reported data only. The estimated, unreported buying has no country names attached. The table below lists the largest reported central bank buyers and the reported sellers for each period.

Reported data only; the estimated unreported buying has no country names. Source: World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends central banks pages, published January 2024, January 2025, January 2026 and July 2026.

Poland, China and the other large reported buyers#

Poland's central bank has bought more reported gold than any other since 2024: 90 tonnes in 2024, 102 in 2025 and 82 in the first half of 2026. Reserves are the foreign money and gold a central bank holds. The World Gold Council (January 2026) put gold at "28% of total reserves" in Poland. It said the bank raised its target from 20% to 30% in October 2025. The July 2026 report described a "700t target". Those 700 tonnes are 22.5 million ounces, about $93.3 billion at the LBMA PM price of September 28, 2026.

China reported 225 tonnes in 2023, "the country's highest single year of reported additions since at least 1977". It added 33 tonnes in the second quarter of 2026, "its largest quarterly addition since Q4'23". A handful of emerging-market central banks do most of the visible buying, and the names change from year to year, as the table above shows. Richer countries are mostly absent. The Brookings paper notes that advanced-economy central banks have held "a broadly stable volume of gold" since the 2008 financial crisis.

The central banks that sold gold from 2023 to 2026#

Central banks also sell gold: Turkey sold 159 tonnes between March and May 2023, and Russia sold 22 tonnes in the second quarter of 2026. Four sales in the last four years show that the flow runs both ways.

• Turkey: 159 tonnes sold from March to May 2023, which left the bank a net seller of 2 tonnes for the year.
• Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan: 47 and 25 tonnes sold in 2023. Both bought again later (Kazakhstan 57 tonnes in 2025, Uzbekistan 16 tonnes in Q2 2026).
• Philippines: 30 tonnes sold in 2024.
• Russia: 6 tonnes sold in 2025 and 22 tonnes in Q2 2026, "the largest seller in Q2".

A central bank sells when it needs cash or wants a different mix of reserves. The "net" figure hides those sales. Selling is not new, either. Twenty-five years ago the sellers were Europe's central banks, and they signed agreements to limit it.

Why Are Central Banks Buying Gold?#

Central banks say they buy gold because it holds up in a crisis, spreads their reserves beyond the US dollar, and guards against inflation and political risk. The source is the World Gold Council's Central Bank Gold Reserves Survey 2026, published on June 16, 2026. It questioned 76 central banks between February 5 and May 19, 2026.

The survey's 4 main findings are listed below.

• Direction: 89% expect central bank gold reserves worldwide to rise in the next 12 months.
• Own plans: a record 45% expect their own gold reserves to rise.
• The dollar: 74% expect the US dollar's share of reserves to be lower in five years.
• Stated reasons: "Gold's performance during times of crisis, portfolio diversification and inflation hedging", plus "gold as a geopolitical risk hedge".

Diversification means not keeping everything in one asset. Geopolitical risk means war and sanctions. Note the second finding. Fewer than half of the banks said they plan to buy more gold themselves.

How do the banks pay for the gold? "Half of respondents indicated through a domestic purchase programme", and "38% indicated through selling existing reserve assets". In plain English: half buy from their own country's mines with their own currency. Others swap dollars or bonds for gold.

A central bank's reasons are not a saver's reasons. A central bank has no retirement date, pays no dealer markup on a few coins, and never has to take a required withdrawal.

The Central Bank Gold Agreements: 20 Years When Europe's Central Banks Limited or Coordinated Gold Sales (1999 to 2019)#

From September 1999 to September 2019, the European Central Bank and up to 21 other central banks limited or coordinated their gold sales under four five-year Central Bank Gold Agreements. The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank for the euro. The first three agreements set yearly caps, for 15 years in all. The fourth set none. The first agreement is also called the Washington Agreement on Gold. Why does it matter on a page about buying? For the first ten of those years, the worry in the gold market was central banks selling, not buying.

Three terms recur. A signatory is an institution that signed. A cap, or ceiling, is the most gold that may be sold. Gold leasing means lending gold for a fee. The table below sets the four agreements side by side.

Source: the five European Central Bank press releases linked in the sections below. The 1999 and 2004 texts write "tons"; the 2009 text writes "tonnes". Signatory counts and ounce conversions: SafeOunce count and computation.

The three capped agreements allowed up to 6,500 tonnes of sales over 15 years, about 209 million ounces. Savers were affected by other rules in those years. The 1999 agreement sits on the same timeline as the history of gold in IRAs, two years after US law let bullion into retirement accounts.

The Agreements Capped Gold Sales at 400 Tonnes a Year in 1999, 500 in 2004 and 400 in 2009#

The first Central Bank Gold Agreement, announced on September 26, 1999, capped the 15 signers' gold sales at about 400 tonnes a year and 2,000 tonnes over five years. The 2004 renewal raised the cap to 500 tonnes a year, and the 2009 renewal cut it back to 400. The signed texts are three ECB press releases. They are the Joint statement on gold of September 26, 1999, the Joint Statement on Gold of March 8, 2004 and the Joint Statement on Gold of August 7, 2009.

Added together, the three ceilings are 2,000 + 2,500 + 2,000 = 6,500 tonnes of permitted sales in 15 years (SafeOunce computation). All three texts open with the same thought. Gold "will remain" (1999, 2004) or "remains" (2009) "an important element of global monetary reserves". The agreements were public statements of intent, each to "be reviewed after five years".

The 1999 and 2004 texts also limited gold leasing and the use of futures and options, which are contracts on the future price of gold. Who signed? Only European institutions. The United States, Japan, Australia, the IMF and the Bank for International Settlements did not sign any of the texts.

The 2014 Renewal: The Fourth Agreement of May 19, 2014 Set No Sales Cap#

The fourth Central Bank Gold Agreement, announced on May 19, 2014 by the ECB and 20 other central banks, set no sales limit in tonnes from September 27, 2014. The signed text is the ECB press release ECB and other central banks announce the fourth Central Bank Gold Agreement of May 19, 2014. The statement made 4 points, quoted here in order.

1. "Gold remains an important element of global monetary reserves"
2. "The signatories will continue to coordinate their gold transactions so as to avoid market disturbances"
3. "The signatories note that, currently, they do not have any plans to sell significant amounts of gold"
4. "This agreement, which applies as of 27 September 2014, following the expiry of the current agreement, will be reviewed after five years"

Compare row 4 of the table above with rows 1 to 3. The caps read 400, 500, 400 and then nothing. A common statement online says the 2014 agreement was extended at 400 tonnes a year. That is wrong: the 2014 text contains no figure.

The 2019 Decision Not to Renew: Announced July 26, 2019, Expired September 26, 2019#

On July 26, 2019, the ECB and 21 other central banks announced they would not renew the Central Bank Gold Agreement, which expired on September 26, 2019 after 20 years. The source is the ECB press release As market matures central banks conclude that a formal gold agreement is no longer necessary of July 26, 2019. It gives two reasons.

The release says the agreement "was renewed three times in 2004, 2009 and 2014, gradually moving towards less stringent terms". Its chart shows yearly sales near the ceilings until 2008 and near zero from 2012. No fifth agreement has followed as of October 2026.

The release does not compare the old selling with today's buying. We did (SafeOunce computation). The highest agreed selling ceiling was 500 tonnes a year, from 2004 to 2009. Central banks worldwide bought 1,022 tonnes a year in 2022 to 2025, which is 2.04 times that ceiling. Four years of buying (4,088.2 tonnes) equal 63% of the 6,500 tonnes that 15 years of ceilings allowed.

5 Common Errors About the Gold Agreements, Checked Against the Signed Texts#

Five statements about the gold agreements that are widely repeated online do not match the texts the central banks signed. The table below sets each common version next to the signed text.

Does Central Bank Gold Buying Push the Gold Price Up?#

Central bank gold buying supports demand but does not set the price: in the second quarter of 2026 the banks bought 289 tonnes and the average gold price fell 8%. Those 289 tonnes are 9.3 million ounces, about $41.9 billion (SafeOunce computation). The buying can soften a fall. It did not prevent this one. The table below compares the first two quarters of 2026.

Source: World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends Q1 2026 (with the July 2026 erratum) and Q2 2026.

A gold ETF is a fund whose shares track the gold price. Gold ETFs lost 44.8 tonnes in the second quarter. Why did fund holdings fall? The World Gold Council (July 2026) named "upward adjustments to both inflation and interest rate expectations alongside a strengthening US dollar".

The whole year so far tells the same story. The LBMA PM price fell 26.1% from its record of $5,405.00 on January 29, 2026 to $3,993.55 on July 16, 2026. It stood 23.3% below the record on September 28, 2026. Central banks were net buyers in both quarters of the first half. Their July to September buying had not been published on October 2, 2026. A benchmark is a reference price that contracts and reports use. The LBMA price is one of several benchmarks; see how the spot price of gold is set.

Central banks are one buyer among several#

Central banks accounted for 17.3% of world gold demand in 2025: 863 of 5,002.3 tonnes. The table below lists the four largest groups of gold buyers in 2025, from the World Gold Council's January 2026 report.

The four groups add up to 4,580.2 tonnes. The other 422 tonnes are other demand, including over-the-counter buying (SafeOunce computation).

In the first half of 2026 the central bank share was 13.7%. The World Gold Council's Gold Mid-Year Outlook 2026 split the first-half price moves by cause. We could not confirm the month it was published. Momentum, which means traders following a trend, explained 24%. Risk and uncertainty explained 17%, currency moves 14%, economic growth 12% and interest rates 3%. The "other" group, which includes central bank purchases, explained 30%. These shares describe the past. They are not a forecast.

Fund investors, who hold a gold ETF instead of metal, moved 44.8 tonnes out in Q2 2026. That is more than the 33 tonnes China, the second-largest reported buyer, moved in.

What Does Central Bank Gold Buying Mean for Retirement Savers?#

For retirement savers, central bank gold buying is background information: it does not tell you whether to buy, when to buy or what a fair price is. It explains part of the demand for gold and no more. The year 2026 so far shows why. A markup is what the dealer adds to the metal price.

The banks kept buying, and the saver still lost money. The headline was true, and it did not help. Is a gold IRA wrong for everyone, then? No. That question has its own answer and its own numbers.

Whether a gold IRA is a good investment for you depends on your costs, your time horizon and the rest of your savings. A central bank shares none of those. A fee-only planner can check your numbers.

What central bank buying does not change about a gold IRA#

Central bank buying changes none of the 5 things that decide how a gold IRA works out for you. The 5 things are listed below.

• The tax rules: which metals are IRA-eligible under 26 U.S.C. 408(m)(3), and how withdrawals are taxed. IRA-eligible means the tax code lets an IRA hold the metal.
• The dealer's markup and buy-back price: what you pay over the metal price, and what you get when you sell.
• The yearly fees: the custodian, which is the trust company that holds the IRA, and the storage vault both charge each year.
• The price swings: gold fell 26.1% inside 2026 (LBMA PM, January 29 to July 16).
• Your own timetable: required withdrawals start at age 73 if you were born from 1951 to 1958, or 75 if born in 1960 or later.

Central banks buy 400-ounce bars at wholesale prices, the prices large traders pay each other. A saver buys coins and small bars at retail, so gold IRA returns start below the market price.

How the "central banks are buying" sales pitch works, and 4 questions to ask#

Gold sellers quote central bank buying because it sounds like expert approval, but the number says nothing about the price you are offered. Seller pages read for this article on October 2, 2026 follow one pattern. They give an old or pre-revision number, leave out the banks that sold, and then urge you to place your savings alongside the central banks. What decides your result is the seller's spread, the gap between what you pay and what the dealer pays back; see gold IRA markups.

Ask these 4 questions when a seller cites central banks.

1. Ask which report the number comes from and when it was published.
2. Ask how much of it was reported and how much was estimated.
3. Ask for the seller's price per coin and its buy-back price today, in writing.
4. Ask what the same purchase made in January 2026 would be worth now.

A federal regulator gives you a yardstick for question 3. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) wrote in its advisory of August 4, 2020 (release 8215-20) that bullion coins typically sell for 5% to 10% over the metal price. Numismatic coins, which are collector coins, sold for 40% to 200% over. A fear or authority pitch followed by high-priced "premium" coins is one of the warning signs of gold IRA scams.

What Else Moves the Gold Price Besides Central Banks?#

Besides central banks, the gold price moves with interest rates, the US dollar, investor fear and the flows of large funds. Central bank gold buying is one input, and the second quarter of 2026 shows that the others can outweigh it. Four other forces are covered on their own pages.

• Interest rates, the dollar and debt: what moves gold and silver prices.
• Stock-market stress: is gold a safe haven, with its limits.
• The price itself: what the spot price of gold means and why you pay more.
• Costs inside a retirement account: how a gold IRA works.

Questions readers ask about central banks and gold#

Readers ask five further questions about central banks and gold, and each has a short answer below.

Are central banks buying gold right now?#

Yes: central banks bought a net 289 tonnes in the second quarter of 2026 and 345 tonnes in the first half, on the latest World Gold Council figures (July 2026). Three banks reported sales in the same quarter, led by Russia with 22 tonnes. The third-quarter report had not been published when this page was reviewed on October 2, 2026.

How much gold will central banks buy in 2026?#

Nobody knows: the only firm numbers are the 345 tonnes bought in the first half of 2026 and a survey of what central banks expect. In that survey, 45% of central banks expected their own gold reserves to rise. Forecasts from banks and industry groups are estimates of an estimate. SafeOunce does not publish forecasts.

Do central banks buy silver?#

No: central bank reserve buying is in gold, not silver. A Silver Institute study of July 21, 2026 says central bank gold buying "likely pushed the gold:silver ratio above its long-run equilibrium level" of "just under 60:1". The ratio is the number of silver ounces that one gold ounce buys. The study's subject, the gold-to-silver ratio, has its own page.

How much gold does the US Treasury hold?#

The US Treasury held 261,498,926 fine troy ounces of gold, about 8,133.5 tonnes, on August 31, 2026, of which 147,341,858 ounces were at Fort Knox. The gold belongs to the Treasury, not the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's vault stores 13,376,988 ounces of it. The Treasury's U.S. Treasury-Owned Gold report carries it at the statutory book value of $42.2222 an ounce, or $11.04 billion. Statutory book value is a price fixed by law, not the market price. The holding equals about 8 years of central bank gold buying at the 2022 to 2025 pace (SafeOunce computation).

Could a government take private gold again?#

The United States ordered most privately held gold to be turned in in 1933 and restored the right to own it at the end of 1974. No such order exists today. The 1933 order (Executive Order 6102 of April 5, 1933) and what it means for IRA gold are covered under can the government confiscate your gold.