Georgia the latest country to join the central bank Gold rush

Georgia has joined the growing list of countries expanding their gold reserves.

Last month, the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) purchased $100 million in gold. At the average gold price in May, that amount would buy approximately 22,000 ounces (0.7 tonnes) of gold.

The purchase boosted the eastern European nation’s gold reserves to nearly 8 tonnes, valued at $7 billion. Gold now makes up 15.5 percent of Georgia's total monetary reserves.

The National Bank of Georgia President Natia Turnava said the central bank plans to purchase an additional $500 million in gold with the goal of raising gold’s share of reserves to 25 percent.  

In a statement, Georgian central bank officials said the expansion of gold reserves was designed to diversify its reserve assets, enhance stability, and safeguard reserves against inflationary risks.

"Monetary gold is a reserve asset widely recognized by central banks around the world, which helps to increase the resilience of the portfolio to geopolitical risks and reduce risks."

While it didn’t say so directly, the reference to stability and inflation risks was almost certainly directed toward the U.S. dollar.

Georgia’s accumulation of gold is part of a broader global de-dollarization effort. As the Financial Times recently reported, “The shifting composition of reserve assets — highly liquid holdings that central banks use to support their currencies, meet international payment obligations and provide liquidity in times of financial turmoil — reflects an attempt by many countries to seek alternatives to the U.S. dollar, the world’s de facto reserve currency.”

The Times noted that de-dollarization has accelerated since 2022, when the U.S. and its Western allies aggressively sanctioned Russia and effectively locked it out of the global SWIFT payment system after the invasion of Ukraine. This weaponization of the dollar has made some countries wary of holding dollar-denominated assets.

The NBG's statement noted that central bank demand has been largely inelastic to fluctuations in the gold price and has provided strong support for the broader market.

“The ongoing conflict in Ukraine, escalation in the Middle East, U.S.-China trade tensions, and the U.S.-Iran conflict that erupted in February 2026 have all consistently driven and reinforced a structural risk premium in gold prices, cementing its value as a premier safe-haven asset.”

The pace of central bank purchases moderated in 2025 but remained far above the recent historical average. Official net full-year buying came in at 863.3 tonnes. That was down 21 percent year-on-year, charting the lowest level since 2021.

However, while central bank gold purchases declined last year, they remained well above the 2010-2021 annual average of 473 tonnes.

To put that into context, central bank gold reserves increased by an average of just 473 tonnes annually between 2010 and 2021.

Last year was the fourth-largest expansion of central bank gold reserves on record. The all-time high was set in 2022 (1,136 tonnes). It was the highest level of net purchases on record, dating back to 1950, including since the suspension of dollar convertibility into gold in 1971.

According to the Financial Times, central banks globally hold 36,000 tonnes of gold. That is nearly as much as the peak of the Bretton Woods era, when the dollar was tied to gold (38,000 tonnes).