Many world banks buy in as gold prices fall in March

According to Kitco, Mr. Krishan Gopaul - senior European regional analyst said that in the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at the World Gold Council (WGC), central banks boosted gold purchases last month, when the price of this precious metal fell to its lowest level since last year.

In a series of recent posts, Mr. Gopaul updated the latest gold purchase deals of countries, showing that many central banks are taking advantage of stockpiling as gold prices fall.

Data released by the Czech National Bank shows that the country's gold reserves increased by 2 tons in March. Total net purchases in the first quarter reached 5 tons, raising total gold holdings to 77 tons" - he wrote.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Guatemala added 2 tons of gold to its reserves last month, "19% higher than the previous month and the first additional purchase since September (6 tons)" - he said. "The country's gold reserves currently reach 16 tons.

Data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also shows that the country leading in official gold purchases in 2024 and 2025 continues to buy strongly. "The State Bank of Poland increased its gold reserves by 11 tons in March" - Mr. Gopaul said. "Thus, net purchases from the beginning of the year to date have reached 31 tons, raising total gold reserves to 582 tons.

The Central Bank of Uzbekistan also added 9 tons of gold in March - marking the 6th consecutive month of purchases. "Net purchases in the first quarter reached a total of 25 tons, bringing total gold holdings to 416 tons," he said.

Earlier this week, data from the People's Bank of China showed that the country's gold reserves increased by 5 tons in March - the largest monthly increase since February 2025 - thereby extending the net buying streak to 17 consecutive months. China's official gold holdings are currently at 2,313 tons.

Mr. Gopaul also noted some additional purchases from the previous month.

Data from the State Bank of Kazakhstan shows that the country's gold reserves increased by nearly 8 tons in February. This raised the total gold reserves to 348 tons - the highest level since January 2023. At the same time, this figure also increased the net gold purchases of global central banks in February to 27 tons," he said.

The national subject segment in the gold market has become much more volatile since the outbreak of war with Iran, in the context of analysts saying that many central banks are forced to convert gold reserves into money to protect the economy.

To date, the Central Bank of Turkey is the most transparent in terms of official reserves. Data from this bank shows that gold holdings decreased by another 65.1 tons in March, bringing the total decrease of the past month to more than 118 tons.

According to reports, this is Turkey's largest drop in gold reserves since 2013.

The country's central bank said it has sold part of the gold, but most of it is monetized through swap agreements. This liquidity is used to buy liras and other foreign currencies to support the economy.