Russia sells gold for six months in a row due to budget deficit – media

Russia’s central bank has been reducing its gold reserves for six straight months, selling the precious metal to cover a growing federal budget deficit. According to media estimates, the current sell-off is the largest in at least 25 years.

This is reported by The Moscow Times, citing data from the World Gold Council.

According to the publication, since the beginning of 2026, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation has sold about 44 tons of gold. In June alone, the volume of reserves decreased by 9.33 tons.

The reason for this step is the rapid growth of the Russian federal budget deficit, which has approached 6 trillion rubles since the beginning of the year.

According to analysts, the sale of gold could have brought the Russian authorities about $5.6 billion, which was used to cover the budget deficit.

Freedom Global analyst Vladimir Chernov explained that the Bank of Russia resorts to selling liquid reserve assets in cases where oil and gas revenues turn out to be lower than planned or when the state needs additional funds to finance domestic expenditures.

The Moscow Times notes that the current gold sale is a record for at least the last quarter of a century. For comparison, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia sold six times less of the precious metal.

As previously reported, Russia officially approved the federal budget for 2026, which provides for record spending on the army and law enforcement agencies.

Recall that in March, Russia’s oil tax revenues fell sharply – almost halved compared to last year. This hit the budget, but within a few weeks the situation began to change due to a jump in oil prices.

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