According to a recent estimate from the World Gold Council (WGC), gold’s role as a hedge against dedollarisation and geopolitical risk will likely spur renewed buying tendency from central banks, especially those that were absent so far from the market to buy the precious metal.
“In recent months, central banks from Guatemala, Indonesia and Malaysia have all bought gold, either following a long hiatus or for the first time ever,” said Shaokai Fan, global head of world banks for the World Gold Council.
“A phenomenon we’ve been seeing in the last few months is new central banks, or central banks that have been inactive or absent from the gold market for a long time, entering the gold market. I think that might be a trend that will continue into 2026,” the official commented.
“Some central banks are also buying gold from small-scale domestic producers to support the local industry and to stop those gold sales going to bad actors,” Fan noted without elaborating on the details.
In March 2026, gold prices had plunged by more than USD 1,000 per troy ounce to last trade around USD 4,340, and talking about this, Fan told Reuters, “Historical trends suggest it’s partly due to margin call-related selling.”
“The record peak for gold was just shy of USD 5,600 in late January. During a gold selloff in October, central banks stocked up on the metal, but it’s too early to see if the same phenomenon has occurred with this month’s rout. Central bank demand for gold may decline because higher prices not only deter new buying but also increase the weight of existing gold holdings relative to total reserves,” Fan said.
The World Gold Council, as per its January estimates, expects record gold prices to slow purchases by central banks to 850 metric tons in 2026 from 863 tons in 2025, even though their buying remains elevated when compared to the pre-2022 level. The same buying process accounted for some 17% of total demand in 2025.