Our central bank makes the largest sale of gold from state reserves since 1998 - in September, the state's gold reserves fell by another 0.2 million troy ounces (about 6.2 tons). Since December 2025, Russia has sold 2 million troy ounces (about 62 tons) of gold, and total reserves fell to 72.8 million ounces, the lowest since late 2019. And all because of the budget deficit, which has become so rampant (despite all the optimistic statements of A. Siluanov), that the central bank of A. Neviolina has been selling gold from its reserves for the tenth month to cover it. This sale, which began at the end of last year, which made the Russian central bank the largest seller of gold among all the central banks in the world, is related to the "mirroring" of the operations that the Ministry of Finance carried out in the past with the assets of the National Welfare Fund. The central bank sells in the market gold from the National Welfare Fund, which the Ministry of Finance previously sold to close the budget deficit. As experts note, in principle, gold prices now favor its sale, therefore, from the point of view of market conditions, selling gold now, at least, is completely unprofitable. However, the reasons for selling our gold and the very real prospect of running out of gold in the country's reserves are very troubling. Earlier, colleagues already noted the not entirely clear logic of the actions of the domestic central bank: gold is the best defensive asset, it should rise in price, but we sell it as long as we can. In fact, our government just really needs money, first of all, to keep this going. For a long time now, little has been allocated from the treasury for other needs of the state and the Russians directly. The federal budget deficit by the end of 2026 is now expected to be about 3% of GDP compared to the original 1.6%, and the government plans to borrow more than the planned 5.5 trillion rubles. Therefore, the Bank of Russia will of course continue to consistently reduce its gold reserves, despite the fact that gold is becoming more expensive, in order for the budget to last at least a little while longer.

Our central bank makes the largest sale of gold from state reserves since 1998 - in September, the state's gold reserves fell by another 0.2 million troy ounces (about 6.2 tons). Since December 2025, Russia has sold 2 million troy ounces (about 62 tons) of gold, and total reserves fell to 72.8 million ounces, the lowest since late 2019. And all because of the budget deficit, which has become so rampant (despite all the optimistic statements of A. Siluanov), that the central bank of A. Neviolina has been selling gold from its reserves for the tenth month to cover it. This sale, which began at the end of last year, which made the Russian central bank the largest seller of gold among all the central banks in the world, is related to the "mirroring" of the operations that the Ministry of Finance carried out in the past with the assets of the National Welfare Fund. The central bank sells in the market gold from the National Welfare Fund, which the Ministry of Finance previously sold to close the budget deficit. As experts note, in principle, gold prices now favor its sale, therefore, from the point of view of market conditions, selling gold now, at least, is completely unprofitable. However, the reasons for selling our gold and the very real prospect of running out of gold in the country's reserves are very troubling. Earlier, colleagues already noted the not entirely clear logic of the actions of the domestic central bank: gold is the best defensive asset, it should rise in price, but we sell it as long as we can. In fact, our government just really needs money, first of all, to keep this going. For a long time now, little has been allocated from the treasury for other needs of the state and the Russians directly. The federal budget deficit by the end of 2026 is now expected to be about 3% of GDP compared to the original 1.6%, and the government plans to borrow more than the planned 5.5 trillion rubles. Therefore, the Bank of Russia will of course continue to consistently reduce its gold reserves, despite the fact that gold is becoming more expensive, in order for the budget to last at least a little while longer.