Kazakhstan’s National Bank reaches new record in gold reserves

As of late March 2025, the value of the monetary gold within the gold and foreign currency reserves of Kazakhstan’s National Bank stood at $29.14 billion, marking a record high since records began. The figure grew by 13.23%, or $3.4 billion month-on-month (MoM).

Since the beginning of the year, all the gold in the regulator’s reserves has gained 22.2% in value or nearly $5.3 billion. According to Investing.com, the price of June gold futures rose from $2,870 to $3,150, accounting for just a 9.7% increase over the course of March. Therefore, the remaining 3.53 percentage points of the increase in reserve gold value were driven by the National Bank’s net purchases.

In addition, the National Bank reported that its international reserves — the assets denominated in freely convertible currencies along with monetary gold — increased by 4.9% MoM, reaching $50.3 billion. In the first three months of the year, this figure rose by 9.9%, while foreign currency assets declined by 4.7% to $21.2 billion. Since the beginning of the year, the latter indicator dropped by 3.5%. 

According to the World Gold Council, in February 2025, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan maintained their leadership in net gold sales, which they had reached earlier this year, selling eight tons and twelve tons, respectively. In contrast, many other central banks around the world tended to acquire gold rather than sell it.

In February, gold accounted for 54% of Kazakhstan’s gold and foreign currency reserves, totaling 280 tons at the end of the month. By March, the share rose to 57.9%, although no official data is available on the quantity of gold in the reserves for that month. (Some estimates pointed to 289 tons.)