Russia’s Gold Reserve Value Fell 110 Billion Dollars. Almost All of the Move Was Price.
The Bank of Russia’s monetary gold was worth 292.85 billion dollars at 31 July, against 402.71 billion at 31 January. That is a fall of 109.9 billion dollars, or 27.3 percent, in six months, and it is the kind of number that invites a dramatic reading.
The Bank of Russia’s own data does not support one. Nothing was realised and almost nothing left the vault. The move is overwhelmingly revaluation.
Separating the two effects
The central bank publishes both the dollar value of its monetary gold and the physical volume in fine troy ounces, which makes the decomposition straightforward. The cleanest window is the second quarter, because the bank has published both series for its start and end points. The six-month volume path below then confirms the same pattern holds across the longer period.
At 31 March the holding was 333.97 billion dollars across 74.1 million ounces — an implied reference price of about 4,507 dollars an ounce. At 30 June it was 298.99 billion dollars across 73.4 million ounces, an implied 4,073 dollars.
So across the second quarter the value fell 10.5 percent while the volume fell 0.94 percent. The implied price fell 9.6 percent. Roughly nine-tenths of the decline in the dollar figure was revaluation. One-tenth was gold actually leaving the balance sheet.
This matters because gold is now the largest single component of Russia’s reserves. It was 40.7 percent of the 720.35 billion dollar total at 31 July, down from 48.3 percent in January — and that share moves with the gold price whether or not a single ounce changes hands.
The volume decline is real, and it is small
Holdings went from 74.8 million ounces at 1 January to 73.4 million at 30 June, a fall of 1.4 million ounces, about 43.5 tonnes. The World Gold Council, which tracks reported central bank flows, records it as 44 tonnes of net sales in the first half and identifies the Bank of Russia as the largest seller in the second quarter at 22 tonnes, and by then the only sizeable one, after Turkey’s disposals slowed.
The Bank of Russia has published no explanation, and none is inferred here. Its only public characterisation of volume changes in its gold, given by a department head, attributes minor fluctuations to scheduled operations in the domestic market, and states that all the gold in the international reserves is held in the central bank’s own depositories inside Russia.
Two things the data rules out
The National Wealth Fund was not the source. The Finance Ministry reports the fund’s gold at 141.2 tonnes at 1 August, up from 141.1 tonnes at 1 July, having converted 1.63 billion roubles into 158.9 kilogrammes of gold during July and acquired 5,150 kilogrammes in June. The fund was buying.
Nor was the Finance Ministry selling. Under the fiscal rule it allocated 123.2 billion roubles, about 1.59 billion dollars, to purchases of foreign currency and gold between 7 July and 6 August.
Where the rest of the world is going
The contrast is the story. World Gold Council data for the first half of 2026 puts Poland at 82 tonnes of net purchases, Uzbekistan at 41, China at 40 and Kazakhstan at 27. Against that, Turkey sold 83 tonnes and Russia 44.
Central bank appetite more broadly is intact. Second-quarter net purchases were 289 tonnes, a fivefold increase on the first quarter, and the Council’s 2026 survey of 76 central banks found a record 45 percent planning to increase gold holdings over the next twelve months, with 93 percent now holding gold against 81 percent previously.
We reported this morning that Qatar Central Bank took gold from 7.9 percent of official reserves at end-2021 to 28.9 percent at end-2025. One reserve manager has been building the position over four years. Another has recorded net sales averaging roughly 7 tonnes a month across the first half, while the price did the rest of the work to the headline.
Total reserves are higher, not lower
Russia’s overall international reserves stood at 755.6 billion dollars at 14 August, up 15.6 billion on the week, against 688.7 billion a year earlier. The January peak was 833.57 billion. The gold decline has been offset by foreign currency, which rose 6.04 billion dollars in July as gold fell 6.14 billion — an almost exact swap.
Sources
- Bank of Russia, International Reserves of the Russian Federation, monthly and weekly series, to 14 August 2026
- Bank of Russia, Statistical Bulletin 2026 No. 7 and No. 4, Table 1.8, gold volume in fine troy ounces
- Bank of Russia, Methodological Notes to International Reserves Statistics
- World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends Q2 2026, and central bank gold statistics, June 2026
- World Gold Council, 2026 Central Bank Gold Reserves Survey, 16 June 2026
- Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, National Wealth Fund monthly statements, 1 July and 1 August 2026
