The National Bank of Poland (NBP) has added PLN 32 billion (€7.4 billion) to its assets in gold last year, wPolityce writes, citing a podcast from news portal “Puls Biznesu.”
Few central banks in developed countries have made such a large bet on gold. Over the past five years, Poland’s central bank has doubled its reserves of the metal, from 229 to 448 tons. The share of gold in the bank’s assets has increased from 9 to 15 percent, the podcast noted.
It added that, for example, the Czech central bank holds about 3 percent of its assets in gold, Hungary’s has 8 percent, and the Romanian central bank has 10 percent in gold.
Gold has become more attractive due to growing geopolitical uncertainties, from war to the economy. Since the beginning of 2025, the price of gold in Polish zlotys has gone up by over 15 percent.
“The U.S. is signaling that its Treasury bondholders may face costs. In that case, owning gold may make more sense than usual,” Puls Biznesu said.
NBP recorded a loss exceeding PLN 13 billion (€3 billion) last year, primarily due to high interest rates and an increase in the value of the national currency.
“Central banks of countries such as Poland hold most of their assets in instruments denominated in foreign currencies, which means that when the domestic currency strengthens, their assets denominated in that currency lose value,” explained “PB” journalists.
The central bank’s losses do not pose a threat to the currency, inflation and financial stability of the country “as long as they do not limit the bank’s ability to control interest rates, i.e., in fact, until the bank is forced to print money to cover the costs of its operations.”
“We are far from that,” Puls Biznesu indicated.
Currently, gold is experiencing a surge, jumping approximately 25 percent this year. Some experts believe that the dollar could lose its global reserve currency status, with more countries like Russia and China seeking to shift to gold as an alternative. Others claim that the dollar’s reign as king is far from over.
