Summary
Reserve banks net purchased 166 tonnes of gold in 3 months to June, 33% lower quarter-on-quarter, World Gold Council (WGC) information revealed. While this is the most affordable quarterly number because June 2022, it is 41% greater than the typical quarterly level seen in between 2010 and 2021, before purchasing increase dramatically in more current years, WGC information revealed.
MUMBAI: Central bank gold hunger, although not as starved as the 1,000-tonne-a-year purchases in the previous 3 fiscal year, stays mostly undiminished internationally as this group of institutional purchasers diversifies its possession base beyond the popular dollar-denominated holdings in a world significantly scattered with tariff snags.
Reserve banks net purchased 166 tonnes of gold in 3 months to June, 33% lower quarter-on-quarter, World Gold Council (WGC) information revealed. While this is the most affordable quarterly number given that June 2022, it is 41% greater than the typical quarterly level seen in between 2010 and 2021, before purchasing increase greatly in more current years, WGC information revealed.
For the very first half (H1) of 2025, the number stood at 415 tonnes compared to 525 tonnes in year earlier. This is likewise the most affordable very first half given that 2022. Raised gold costs in the middle of destabilising financial and geopolitical environment has most likely added to the downturn in reserve bank purchasing, WGC stated.
According to Madhavankutty G, primary financial expert at Canara Bank, the reserve banks’ gold purchases fit completely into the de-dollarisation style, where nations wish to diversify their forex reserves. The dollar is still dominant in FX reserves, its share is coming down significantly, with gold benefiting from this shift.
“The added benefit of gold is also the safety aspect. The US tariffs have increased the geopolitical as well as global economic uncertainty, which in turn is expected to keep gold prices elevated. Historically, US Treasury yields and gold prices were inversely related. That relationship has broken now. So even as yields are expected to remain above 4.30%, gold demand prices may also remain high,” he stated.
Main banks generally are tactical purchasers of gold, they are not totally insensitive to its cost level. “But that they continue to add gold in the face of a higher price underscores their continuing favourable attitudes towards gold as a strategic asset amid such uncertainty,” it stated.
According to WCG, the longer-term pattern of reserve banks making the most of gold’s diversity residential or commercial properties and reallocating from United States possessions to gold stays undamaged.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) purchased almost half a tonne of gold in the recently of June after a reasonably conservative spell of bullion shopping in the existing , ET reported previously. The RBI’s impressive stock of gold totaled up to almost 880 tonnes since June 27. Its share in India’s forex reserves reached 12.1% since July 18, 2025, from 8.9% since July 19, 2024.
WGC’s Central Bank Gold Reserves Survey 2025 exposed that 95% anticipate gold reserves to increase over the next 12 months. The outcomes of the study, which gathered information from 73 of the world’s reserve banks, were released in mid-June.
The National Bank of Poland was the biggest purchaser of gold, including 19 tonnes to its gold reserves in the June quarter, while China’s reported purchases totaled up to 6 tonnes, half of what it purchased in the March quarter. China’s gold reserves now stand at 2,299 tonnes, WCG information revealed.
