According to the WGC, gross gold purchases by central banks in March amounted to 37 tons, while sales reached 66 tons. The bulk of sales came from Turkey, as well as Russia.
The largest buyer of gold in March was the National Bank of Poland, which increased its reserves by 11 tons. The Central Bank of Uzbekistan purchased 9 tons of gold, the National Bank of Kazakhstan - 6 tons, and the People's Bank of China - 5 tons. In addition, the Czech Republic and Guatemala each purchased 2 tons, Kyrgyzstan - 1 ton, FinTech & Retail Eurasia writes.
The WGC noted that Turkey used part of its gold reserves to support foreign exchange liquidity. According to the results of the first quarter, the country also became the largest seller: its official gold assets decreased by 79 tons, with the bulk of sales occurring in March.
Despite the March decline, overall demand from central banks remained strong in the first quarter. According to the World Gold Council, in January-March 2026, central banks and official institutions purchased about 244 tons of gold, which is 17% more than in the previous quarter.
The leaders in terms of purchases in the quarter were Poland with 31 tons, Uzbekistan with 25 tons and Kazakhstan with 13 tons.
Experts note that the increase in gold purchases from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan indicates the desire of the central banks of the region to diversify international reserves against the background of high geo-economic uncertainty and volatility of global markets.
