TLDR
- Forty-five percent of surveyed central banks plan to increase gold reserves over the next year.
- World Gold Council recorded the highest planned buying share since its annual survey began globally.
- Emerging market reserve managers showed stronger gold demand, with 53% planning to add further holdings.
- Eighty-nine percent expect worldwide official gold reserves to rise across the next 12 months overall.
- More central banks are reviewing storage choices, with domestic and overseas diversification plans increasing globally.
The latest World Gold Council survey indicates that world central banks are incredibly bullish on gold, with a record 45% of surveyed reserve managers saying they plan to increase their own institutions’ holdings over the next 12 months. Reuters reported that the figure rose by 2 percentage points from a year earlier. The annual survey included responses from 74 central banks.
The same survey showed that 54% of respondents expected their gold holdings to remain unchanged, while 1% anticipated a decline. The results point to continued demand from official-sector buyers, even after recent price swings in the bullion market. The survey was conducted between February 5 and May 19.
Emerging market and developing economy central banks showed the strongest buying plans, with about 53% of that group expecting to add gold. That figure increased from 48% last year and reached a record level for the group. Overall, 89% of central banks said they expected global official gold reserves to rise during the next 12 months.
Crisis performance remains a top reason
The World Gold Council said 93% of respondents already reported holding gold, up from 81% a year earlier. Among the stated reasons for owning bullion, a record 90% cited its performance during times of crisis. Other common reasons included long-term store of value and portfolio diversification.
Gold’s role as a geopolitical risk hedge was especially common among emerging market and developing economy respondents, with 85% selecting that reason. The results show that reserve managers continue to view gold as useful during periods of market stress and political uncertainty. This demand has remained present despite changing interest-rate expectations and movements in currency markets.
Shaokai Fan, head of the central banks sector at the World Gold Council, said central banks remain keen on gold and that the recent price decline had not changed their position. Metals Focus expects central bank gold demand to slow by 15% year on year in 2026 in tonnage terms. The consultancy still expects purchases to remain above levels seen before 2022.
Storage choices shift with reserve strategy
The survey also showed changes in where central banks prefer to store their gold. About 9% of respondents said they had increased domestic storage over the past 12 months, compared with 5% last year. Another 10% said they had diversified overseas storage locations, up from 2% in the previous survey.
Looking ahead, 7% of respondents said they planned to increase domestic storage within the next 12 months. Another 9% said they planned to diversify overseas vaulting locations during the same period. The World Gold Council did not ask central banks to identify where their gold came from in cases involving repatriation.
The Bank of England remained the most popular vaulting location in the survey, followed by domestic storage and the Bank for International Settlements. The data also showed that fewer central banks reported storing bullion in London and New York than a year earlier. Those cities remain two of the world’s most liquid bullion-market hubs, but the survey suggests that reserve managers are reviewing access, control, and location choices alongside their gold reserve plans.
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