World gold prices have jumped to a record level of 4,643 USD/ounce this week. Analysts predict world gold prices may exceed the 5,000 USD/ounce mark this year.
The proportion of gold in central bank reserves has doubled in the past decade, reaching over 25%, the highest level in nearly 30 years.
In June last year, when gold prices rose sharply, gold surpassed the euro to become the 2nd most important reserve asset in the world, only after the USD.
According to a survey by asset management company Invesco with 50 central banks, about half of them plan to increase the proportion of gold in reserves. About 2/3 also plan to bring gold stored abroad back to domestic storage to ensure safety.
Gold is always the ultimate safe haven. In periods of political instability and instability, the demand for gold from central banks often increases sharply," said Rod Ringrow, official organizations director at Invesco.
Historically, many central banks deposited gold in London, Switzerland and New York, global gold trading centers with political and economic stability.
The Bank of England (BoE) is the most important center in the world, serving about 70 official organizations. Deep-sea bunkers in London are storing about 400,000 gold bars, worth more than 500 billion USD.
The trend of central banks bringing gold home, along with arising difficulties, has attracted attention. Venezuela currently has gold worth about 2 billion USD stuck at the Bank of England because the British government does not recognize the government in Caracas. Russia has also warned Belgium, which holds most of Russia's frozen foreign exchange reserves.
Serbia, India, Hungary and Turkey have also sought to repatriate gold reserves. Poland has brought back hundreds of tons of gold that were transferred to London, the United States and Canada during World War II. In the 2010s, Germany was one of the pioneers in gold repatriation due to political pressure demanding the return of thousands of tons of gold from the United States and France.
According to economists, the countries that stockpile the most gold are often countries at high risk from geopolitical tensions. World Gold Council (WGC) data shows that in the 12 months up to September 2025, gold purchases from central banks increased by 10%, led by Poland, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and China.
China is stepping up gold purchases, accumulating more than 2,000 tons, estimated to be ranked 6th in the world. With more than 8,000 tons, the US is still considered the country holding the most gold in the world, although the gold inventory at Fort Knox has not been officially audited since 1953.
In the opposite direction, some countries tend to sell gold. The British government was a notable gold seller during the period when Mr. Gordon Brown held the position of Minister of Finance in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when this country sold 401 tons of gold out of a total of 715 tons it held, right at a time when gold prices were very low.
