18 consecutive months and running: China’s central bank extends Gold-buying spree

China’s central bank, one of the major Gold purchasers worldwide, continued to add the precious metal to its vaults in April, in a sign that demand from sovereigns remains high.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) bought 8 tonnes of Gold in April, the highest amount since December 2024, posting its 18th consecutive month of purchases, according to the most recent data published by the World Gold Council (WGC).

China’s central bank now holds 2,322 Gold tonnes, which represents around 9% of its total reserves, the data showed.

In April, the PBoC was the third Gold buyer among central banks, only surpassed by Poland and Uzbekistan.

Data from the WGC shows that global central banks resumed net Gold purchases in April, rebounding from the net sales reported in March. Back then, the immediate economic fallout from the Iran war forced some sovereigns in emerging markets to offload Gold to protect their currencies.

Central bank buying has been a key driver of Gold’s rally, which saw the metal almost double in price in 2025. The pace of purchases jumped significantly in 2022, after Russia’s foreign reserves were immobilized following its invasion of Ukraine.

Gold touched an all-time high of around $5,600 per troy ounce in January but has fallen about 23% since then, trading at around $4,300. 

Gold’s most recent correction, which has driven its price below its 200-day Simple Moving Average since October 2023, has been triggered by a surprisingly strong US jobs report for May, which prompted markets to price in upcoming interest-rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. As Gold doesn’t yield interest, investors have fled to other interest-bearing assets such as bonds.