More central banks signal plans to increase gold holdings, WGC survey shows

A record 45% of the reserve managers surveyed by the World Gold Council, up 2 percentage points from a year ago, expect to increase their ​own institutions’ gold holdings over the next 12 months, the international organization ‌said on Tuesday.

The majority — 54% of 74 central banks that responded to the WGC’s annual survey, conducted between February 5 and May 19 — said their holdings would remain unchanged, while 1% anticipated a ​decline, Reuters reported.

Most responses were received after the start of the Middle East conflict in ​late February, which triggered a rally in oil prices and drove gold ⁠prices down.

Central banks remain keen on gold, and the recent price fall has not ​changed their minds, said Shaokai Fan, head of the central banks sector at the ​WGC.

The U.S. and Iran agreed over the weekend on terms to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, prompting a 3% rise in gold prices on Monday.

Gold demand from central banks will ​slow down by 15% year-on-year in 2026 in tonnage terms, according to consultancy Metals Focus, ​but remain above pre-2022 levels, a consistently supportive factor for the market.

The WGC said 93% of ‌respondents ⁠reported already holding gold, up from 81% a year ago.

Among the drivers for gold ownership, a record 90% of respondents cited its performance during times of crisis. The top answers also included long-term store of value and portfolio diversification. Gold’s role as a ​geopolitical risk hedge was ​favoured among emerging ⁠market and developing economy respondents (85%).

As some central banks continued relocating their gold, 9% of respondents said they had increased domestic storage ​in the past 12 months, up from 5% last year, and ​10% said ⁠they had diversified their overseas storage locations, up from 2%.

Within 12 months, 7% plan to increase domestic storage and 9% plan to diversify overseas locations.

The WGC did not ask ⁠central banks ​to specify where their gold came from in ​cases of repatriation.

However, its research showed that the Bank of England remains the most popular vaulting location, followed ​by domestic storage and the Bank for International Settlements.