Story by Alex Stezhensky
The Bank of Russia has sold 21.772 tons of gold since the beginning of 2026 to finance the budget deficit, which reached 4.6 trillion rubles in March against the backdrop of low oil and gas revenues at the beginning of the year.
Gold reserves in the reserves of the Russian Federation by April 1, 2026 decreased by 0.7 million troy ounces to 74.1 million troy ounces, including 0.2 million ounces in March, the Central Bank said on Monday.
The Moscow Exchange reported that in March 2026, the volume of gold transactions in the precious metals market increased by more than 3.5 times compared to March last year to 42.6 tons (28.6 tons in swap transactions and 14 tons in spot transactions). In rubles, the volume increased fivefold, to 534.4 billion rubles.
“Sales to finance the budget deficit may continue against the backdrop of a sharp increase in government spending compared to the planned budget indicators. Such sales of gold from reserves by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation are quite consistent with what is being done in other central banks, especially developing countries,” Reuters quotes Natalia Milchakova, a leading analyst at Freedom Finance Global.
Since the fall of 2025, the Bank of Russia has been buying and selling gold in the domestic market, the liquidity of which has increased, mirroring similar transactions of the Ministry of Finance with the funds of the National Welfare Fund (NWF). The sale of gold also allows the Central Bank to maintain the necessary level of currency diversification of reserves with a total volume of almost $775 billion, in which the share of gold has increased significantly in recent years due to the rise in its price.
Russia formed a gold reserve mainly from 2002 to 2025, buying over 1900 tons of gold. At the same time, most of these purchases fell on 2008-2012 (just over 500 tons) and in 2014-2019 (over 1200 tons). Since 2020, net purchases of gold by Russia have amounted to 55.4 tons, Finam analyst Nikolai Dudchenko points out.
“Currently, a number of central banks continue to sell gold for reasons of the need to cover expenses, including for defense, as well as due to the fact that funds are needed due to rising energy prices and to maintain the exchange rates of national currencies,” Dudchenko said.
“Many central banks have previously bought gold to sell it at a high price when there is an urgent need, and in the context of a difficult geopolitical situation in the world and uncertainty in the global economy, it seems that this year such an urgent need has come,” Milchakova said. In particular, the central bank of Turkey sells currency from reserves to stabilize the depreciating lira.
Published here: https://ru.themoscowtimes.com/2026/04/20/rossiya-prodala-22-tonni-zolota-dlya-finansirovaniya-defitsita-byudzheta-a193178
*****
Get Ageless Tech A.I.-Using AI to Your Advantage: https://georgemagazine.com/agelesstech/
Get George’s America’s 250th: https://georgemagazine.com/product/america-250-celebrating-legacy/
Get The George Dispatch: https://georgemagazine.com/thedispatch/
Get George Magazine. Print or Digital: https://georgemagazine.com/subscribe-george-magazine/
Get George Junior. Print or Digital: https://georgemagazine.com/subscribe-george-junior-magazine/
Get George’s Crypto E-Playbook: https://georgemagazine.com/product/the-crypto-playbook-by-george-magazine/
Discount Applied Successfully!
Your savings have been added to the cart.
