Polish central bank approves plan to buy 150 tons of gold

The world’s biggest reported gold buyer, the National Bank of Poland, approved plans to purchase another 150 tons of the precious metal.

“This will place Poland among the elite 10 countries with the largest gold reserves in the world,” the central bank said Tuesday.

The planned purchases, worth nearly $23 billion at current market prices, are greater than the entire gold reserves of large economies such as Brazil and Mexico. Poland purchased around 100 tons in 2025, more than any other central bank that declared its purchases to the International Monetary Fund.

Central bank buying has been a key driver of gold’s blistering rally, which has seen the metal double in price over the past 18 months. The pace of purchases jumped in 2022, after the immobilization of Russia’s foreign-exchange reserves underscored the appeal of bullion, which cannot be frozen.

Governor Adam Glapinski last week announced that he wants the central bank’s management board to raise the ceiling for gold holdings to 700 tons from 550 tons it held as of Dec. 31.

Until now, the NBP could allocate as much as 30% of its overall reserve assets to bullion. He said there’s no set date to reach the new target.

(By Wojciech Moskwa and Jack Ryan)