Lowest since 2020: Russia is rapidly selling off its gold reserves

The Bank of Russia continues to sell gold from its reserves, reducing them to the lowest level since January 2020. As of August 1, Russia’s gold reserves amounted to 73.2 million ounces, and their value decreased by $33.7 billion in 7 months.

This is reported by Bloomberg .

Since the beginning of 2026, Russia’s gold reserves have decreased by 1.6 million ounces. As of August 1, the Central Bank had 73.2 million ounces of gold at its disposal.

Russia was previously the world’s largest government buyer of gold, buying up a significant portion of its production domestically. However, the Bank of Russia stopped such purchases in early 2020.

Last year, the Central Bank began reducing gold reserves amid the Ministry of Finance’s sale of gold and foreign currency from the National Welfare Fund to cover the budget deficit.

The decline in energy revenues has led to problems with filling the Russian budget. Under the so-called mirror mechanism, the Bank of Russia conducts corresponding operations on the domestic market to compensate for the impact of the Ministry of Finance’s sales on the ruble and the financial system.

By the way, fuel shortages are worsening again in Russia. Residents of at least 12 regions are reporting queues at gas stations, closures of some gas stations, and a lack of popular brands of gasoline.

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