Lowest Spreads and Flexible Terms.
NBP increases gold reserves by nearly 17 tons in May 2026
NBP also bought gold in May. Reserves may be approaching 613 tons
In May, NBP continued buying gold and most likely matched the Netherlands in the ranking of official gold reserves. Monthly data show that the central bank kept adding to its holdings even when the London gold price was lower than at the end of April.
At the end of May 2026, the “monetary gold” item on NBP’s balance sheet was valued at nearly 89,1 mld dollars. That is 702,6 mln dollars more than a month earlier. With the LBMA fixing lower, this means the bank had to buy more gold, and preliminary calculations point to a purchase of about 16,6 tons in May.
If these estimates are confirmed, Poland’s gold reserves would rise to 612,3 tons. This figure is consistent with NBP Governor Adam Glapiński’s statement at Wednesday’s press conference that the bank currently has 613 tons of gold and is aiming for 700 tons.
Final confirmation will come with the report NBP will publish on 19 June. Only then will the exact amount of the metal be revealed, as the central bank now discloses only the valuation of the assets, not the physical holdings themselves.
What is already known, however, is that gold accounted for nearly 30% of Poland’s total foreign exchange reserves at the end of March. That is less than 31% at the end of February and slightly more than 29,7% at the end of April.
May was the fourth month in a row in which NBP increased its gold reserves. In February, the bank bought more than 20 tons, added more than 11 tons in March, and a further 14 tons in April. Since the start of the year, the increase has exceeded 62 tons.
Over the past three years, Poland’s gold holdings have grown by a total of 321,55 tons. That is one reason why Poland has likely moved up to 10th place in the global gold reserve ranking, excluding the International Monetary Fund.
In practical terms, this means NBP now holds more gold than the ECB, the United Kingdom or Spain. It has also overtaken Turkey. If the bank keeps buying gold at roughly the same pace as so far, the 700-ton target could be reached as early as 2026.
Japan remains ahead of Poland on the list, with reserves of 846 tons. That means it will take more time and further purchases to clearly overtake the next major economy.
Sources
