The People’s Bank of China has increased its gold holdings for 22 consecutive months, adding a record high of 650,000 ounces in August.

China News Service, Beijing, September 7 (Tao Siyue) According to data released by the Central Bank of China on the 7th, gold reserves at the end of August stood at 76.73 million ounces, an increase of 650,000 ounces from the previous month.

This is the 22nd consecutive month that the People’s Bank of China has increased its gold holdings since November 2024. The increase in holdings in August further expanded from the 640,000 ounces in July, setting a new monthly record for this round of holdings.

Expectations for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in August have cooled, driving a rebound in international gold prices. Wang Qing, chief macro analyst at Oriental Jincheng, said that in August, the U.S. Treasury Department announced an expansion of the scale of long-term U.S. debt repurchases, and the market's concerns about U.S. fiscal risks and the credit of the U.S. dollar increased. While this is pushing up international gold prices, it may also directly prompt the central bank to accelerate its increase in gold holdings that month.

Data show that currently, among China’s official reserves, which mainly consist of foreign exchange reserves and gold reserves, gold reserves account for less than 10%. The European Central Bank released a report on June 2 this year saying that as of the end of 2025, gold's proportion in the world's total official reserve assets has risen to 27%, surpassing U.S. Treasury bonds and becoming the world's largest official reserve asset.

"Although the current price of gold is near historical highs, from the perspective of optimizing the reserve structure, the necessity of increasing gold holdings has increased." Wang Qing said that gold is a widely accepted means of final payment in the world, and the central bank's increased holdings of gold can enhance the credit of the sovereign currency and create favorable conditions for the steady and prudent promotion of the internationalization of the RMB. Judging from various factors, the central bank's increase in gold holdings is still the general direction. (over)