{"id":4448,"date":"2026-05-26T12:23:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T04:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/?p=4448"},"modified":"2026-05-26T12:37:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T04:37:29","slug":"russias-sovereign-gold-reserves-plunge-5-7-tonnes-in-april-to-24-year-low-amid-mounting-deficits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/russias-sovereign-gold-reserves-plunge-5-7-tonnes-in-april-to-24-year-low-amid-mounting-deficits\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia\u2019s sovereign gold reserves plunge 5.7 tonnes in April to 24-year low amid mounting deficits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Ernest Hoffman (Kitco News<\/a>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gold reserves of Russia’s central bank declined for the fourth consecutive month in April, recording the sharpest drop in a quarter century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of May 1, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) held 73.9 million ounces of gold bullion in its international reserves. In just one month, their gold reserves decreased by 200,000 ounces, bringing the total decline since the start of 2026 to 900,000 ounces. Consequently, the CBR\u2019s total gold reserve fell to its lowest level since March 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In metric terms, the central bank lost 27.9 tonnes of gold between January and April, representing the most significant drop in their sovereign bullion reserves since 2002, according to World Gold Council data. In May of 2002, the CBR saw its gold holdings plummet by 41.5 tonnes in a single month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of the next 24 years, Russia\u2019s central bank was generally a gold buyer, frequently purchasing hundreds of tonnes per year, and never sold more than 100,000 ounces or 3.1 tonnes of bullion in a single month. The lone exception was July of 2005, when 7.7 tonnes of gold came off the bank’s balance sheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CBR is selling gold to match parallel transactions involving sales of assets from the National Wealth Fund, which are part of the country’s gold and foreign exchange reserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, it is to cover the budget deficit, which reached 4.6 trillion rubles by the end of March,\u201d Freedom Finance Global analyst Natalia Milchakova told The Moscow Times. \u201cWithout partial compensation from the Central Bank amid modest oil and gas revenues at the start of the year, this figure could have surpassed 5 trillion rubles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAdditionally, the gold sales could have been aimed at building up foreign currency reserves, as a shortage emerged due to weak export earnings early in the year,\u201d she added. \u201cThe precious metal was exchanged for yuan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The April numbers are the latest in a string of larger-than-usual gold sales as Russia struggles under the combined weight of the Ukraine war and international sanctions. Russia\u2019s gold reserves declined to 2,304.76 tonnes as of April 1, 2026, including a decrease of 6.22 tonnes in March alone, the Central Bank reported a month ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Domestic demand for gold within Russia has skyrocketed as the country\u2019s economy struggles in the fifth year of its war with Ukraine. According to the Moscow Exchange, the volume of gold transactions last month was up more than 350% compared to March of 2025, reaching 42.6 tonnes \u2013 28.6 tonnes in swap transactions and 14 tonnes in spot transactions. With the ruble\u2019s decline, the increase was even more dramatic: a 500% increase from the prior year, reaching 534.4 billion rubles, or $7.1 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSales to finance the budget deficit may continue amid a sharp increase in government spending compared to budget targets,\u201d said Natalia Milchakova, lead analyst at Freedom Finance Global, in a comment to Reuters. \u201cSuch sales of gold from reserves by the Central Bank of Russia are entirely consistent with what other central banks are doing, especially in developing countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia\u2019s gold reserves were built up primarily between 2002 and 2025, when they purchased over 1,900 tons of gold, buying just over 500 tonnes between 2008 and 2012, and 1,200 tonnes between 2014 and 2019. According to Finam analyst Nikolai Dudchenko, Russia\u2019s net gold purchases have amounted to only 55.4 tons since 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCurrently, a number of central banks continue to sell gold due to the need to cover expenses, including defense costs,\u201d Dudchenko said, adding that the money is also used to cover \u201crising energy prices and to support national currency exchange rates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Feb. 20, Russia\u2019s central bank announced they had sold 300,000 ounces of gold from its reserves in January as prices hit record highs above $5,500 per ounce, lowering its total holdings to 74.5 million ounces. This was the first decrease in Russia\u2019s gold reserves since October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gold prices averaged roughly $4,700 per ounce in January, but peaked at $5,600 per ounce, so the bullion sales likely brought in somewhere between $1.41 billion and $1.68 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even with the sale, the value of Russia\u2019s gold reserves rose 23% in January to $402.7 billion as prices shot to record highs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July, Bloomberg reported that Russia\u2019s precious metals exports to China nearly doubled in value during the first half of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChinese imports of Russian precious metal ores and concentrates, including gold and silver, jumped 80% to $1 billion from the same period a year earlier,\u201d Bloomberg reported at the time, citing data from Trade Data Monitor and China\u2019s customs office. \u201cBullion prices have climbed about 28% this year, boosted by heightened geopolitical risks and trade tensions, alongside buying by central banks and exchange-traded funds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia is the world\u2019s number-two gold producer \u2013 second only to China \u2013 with an annual output of over 300 tonnes. Russia\u2019s central bank was also one of the world\u2019s biggest sovereign gold buyers, but its purchases have fallen off since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The People\u2019s Bank of China continues to be among the leading central bank buyers in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia\u2019s gold exports to China are up in volume terms, but much of the difference is also due to the gold price rally over the last 12 months, with spot prices rising nearly 43% over the last 12 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country\u2019s gold miners are also supporting rising domestic retail demand, which hit a record high last year as Russians clamored for precious metals to protect the value of their savings. Russian consumers purchased 75.6 tonnes of gold in 2024, representing approximately 25% of the country\u2019s annual production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more recent rally in other precious metals has also boosted revenues among Russia\u2019s top miners. \u201cMMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC, one of the world\u2019s top producers of palladium and platinum, has ramped up exports to China this year,\u201d the report noted. \u201cPrices for the two metals jumped 38% and 59%, respectively [in 2025].”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more at the original source here<\/a>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ernest Hoffman (Kitco News): The gold reserves of Russia’s central bank declined for the fourth consecutive month in April, recording the sharpest drop in a quarter century. As of May 1, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) held 73.9 million ounces of gold bullion in its international reserves. In just one month, their gold… Read More »Russia\u2019s sovereign gold reserves plunge 5.7 tonnes in April to 24-year low amid mounting deficits<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4449,"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4448\/revisions\/4449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}