Central bank reserves: China has more gold than Russia. Beijing took advantage of the declines to make larger purchases

According to the latest data, the People's Bank of China purchased nearly 5 tons of gold in March 2026 – the most in over a year. Thus, the gold reserves of the central bank are already the fifth largest in the world, because everything indicates that they have exceeded the gold reserves held by the Central Bank of Russia, which has been liquidating the metal in recent months.

This was the 17th consecutive month in which the People's Bank of China purchased gold for its foreign exchange reserves. According to the State Administration of Monetary Affairs (SAFE), the official gold reserves of the People's Bank of China increased by 160,000 in March 2026. troy ounces. This was the largest scale of purchases since February 2025, when reserves were increased by PLN 160,000 during the month. ounces.

It could have been an incentive to make purchases the March price correction of the metal, which at one point (USD 4,395/oz.) reduced the metal's prices by almost 22%. from the January peak ($5,645.89/oz.). The reasons for such a deep correction were due to concerns about the response of central banks to the growing inflation risk resulting from higher energy prices caused by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and the war in the Middle East, boosted by the search for liquidity in financial markets.

Promotion in the gold ranking

Returning to Chinese purchases, what deserves attention is the fact that thanks to the nearly 5 tons of ore added in March, The gold reserves of the People's Bank of China increased to over 2,313.46 tons. That's as much as 74.38 million troy ounces, which currently they constitute the 5th largest gold reserves among other central banks. Only the USA (8,133.5 t), Germany (3,350.3 t), Italy (2,452 t) and France (2,437 t) have more.

Just a month earlier, China was in 6th place in this respect, but recently it managed to overtake the reserves of the Central Bank of Russia. Let us remind you that after selling PLN 300,000 in January. ounces and another 200 thousand ounces in February, reserves in the Russian treasury decreased to 74.3 million ounces, or nearly 2,311 tons at the end of February (data for March may appear at the end of April). Of course, we are talking about the official currency reserves of the central bank, but let us remember that The Russian state apparatus still has gold resources in several fundsmore about which in the article “Russia has been accumulating gold for years, now it is selling it.”

Rapid increase in gold reserves of the People's Bank of China

When it comes to central bank reserves, in the case of China, the value of Chinese gold at the end of March was USD 342.76 billion and accounted for 9.1%. total state reserve assets, valued at $3.751 trillion. – according to information provided by SAFE. Due to the decline in gold prices, its value, despite purchases, decreased compared to February, when it was valued at USD 387.59 billion. and accounted for 10 percent. total foreign exchange reserves. In mid-2024, it was less than 5%.

Since then, in November 2024, resources have been increased by 160,000. troy ounces of gold, i.e. by almost 5 tons, a month later, in December, 330,000 were added at a time. ounces, which meant over 10 tons. In 2025 alone, China purchased 27 tons and was one of the largest buyers of central bank gold in the world. The leader in this field was the National Bank of Poland, which in 2025 purchased 102 tons of the “barbaric relic”. This year, China has bought about 230,000 so far. ounces, or 7.15 tonsbut the Polish NBP added approximately 20 tons to its reserves in February alone.

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