Czech National Bank Purchases Record Amounts of Gold, Aim to Concentrate 100 Tons in Safes

CNB Governor Aleš Michl is fulfilling his long-term goal of concentrating one hundred tons of gold in the Czech National Bank. Only during his tenure at the head of the bank, approximately five and a half tons of gold were added to its safes, while the purchases of the precious metal are still increasing. From the beginning of January to the twentieth of May alone, the CNB bought roughly 4.5 tons of gold. Stocks of the precious metal thus increased by more than a third this year alone, to approximately 16.5 tons. At this year’s rate of purchases of around nine meters per month, the bank would thus achieve Mich’s visions in roughly nine years. At the same time, during the period of the independent Czech state, the CNB has never owned more gold than it does now.

“We do not publish or comment on details regarding the management of foreign exchange reserves, including gold, beyond the information published in the Annual Report of the CNB,” says CNB spokeswoman Petra Vlčková regarding purchases of the precious metal.

However, according to the so-called decadal balance sheet of the CNB, around mid-May the bank held 22.1 billion crowns worth of gold, which is six and a quarter billion more than at the end of the year and three and a half billion crowns more than at the end of the first quarter. “At the end of 2022, the CNB held approximately 12 tons of gold, which is approximately 13 percent more than at the end of 2021. In 2022, the possibility of increasing the volume of gold in foreign exchange reserves was also analyzed,” according to the CNB’s annual report for 2022.

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