The National Bank of Georgia pushed its gold reserves to a 15.5% share of the country’s international reserves with a $100 million purchase announced in June 2026. Total reserves hit a record $7.0 billion on the move, a level the IMF confirmed in April crosses its own reserve adequacy threshold for the first time since 2022. The transaction is small by the standards of the BRICS gold rush.
The same impulse that drove Poland and China to buy in 2026 is now showing up in a Caucasus central bank with a $7.0 billion reserve stack. The IMF’s April 2026 Article IV endorsed “opportunistic reserve accumulation” as the right policy stance. Tbilisi is buying gold inside a framework the fund just endorsed.
The Purchase and the New 15.5% Share
The NBG Board approved a $100 million purchase of LBMA-standard gold bars at 999.9 fineness for the country’s international reserves, the central bank said in the NBG announcement on the gold purchase. The bars meet the London Bullion Market Association’s investment-grade benchmark, the standard other major central banks use for monetary gold. The decision sits with the Board, not with the acting president alone.
The transaction lifts monetary gold to 15.5% of the total reserve stack. The figure is the headline allocation the bank is now publicly targeting inside the broader reserve mix. It does not, on its own, change the lari’s day-to-day management.
Monetary gold, as a category, is treated differently from commercial bullion on a central bank’s balance sheet. It is reserved, valued at market, and reported separately from currency and securities holdings. The 999.9 fineness, often called “four nines fine,” is the threshold above which a bar qualifies as good delivery under LBMA rules. The same standard appears in the NBG’s own announcement language.
- $100M | New NBG gold purchase
- 15.5% | Monetary gold share of total reserves
- $7.0B | Georgia’s total international reserves (historic high)
- 114.8% | Reserves vs IMF ARA metric
- 999.9 | Gold bar fineness (LBMA standard)
Reserves Reach $7.0 Billion and Cross the IMF Bar
Georgia’s international reserves reached $7.0 billion in 2026, a historic high, the NBG reported. The IMF’s Assessing Reserve Adequacy (ARA) metric now reads 114.8% for Georgia, placing the country’s buffer in the 100% to 150% range the fund considers broadly adequate.
The April 2026 Article IV mission from the IMF said Georgia’s reserves “rose to historic highs, exceeding the IMF’s reserve adequacy threshold for the first time since 2022.” The same statement tied the buildup to sizable foreign-exchange purchases, strong external inflows, and deposit de-dollarization.
Georgia Joins a Buyer List Led by Poland and China
Net central bank gold purchases hit 244 tonnes in the first quarter of 2026, the World Gold Council reported in its Q1 2026 central bank gold demand data, up 17% from the prior quarter. The headline buyers were the same names that have led the cycle: Poland took 31 tonnes and Uzbekistan 25 tonnes. Georgia’s $100 million move is too small to register in the WGC’s top-buyer table, and it still runs against the same backdrop.
The 2025 full-year total came in at 863 tonnes, down 21% from 2024’s 1,092 tonnes, per the 2025 full-year central bank gold totals. The reading still ran well above the 473-tonne average for 2010 to 2021. Central bank buying stayed above that long-run average even as gold touched multiple record highs. The WGC’s read is that the slowdown reflects price caution, not a strategic retreat.
Twenty-two central banks reported at least 1 tonne of buying in 2025, per the WGC’s full-year review. Beyond the top three, Q1 2026 saw Kazakhstan add 12 tonnes, the Czech National Bank 5 tonnes, Malaysia 5 tonnes, Guatemala 2 tonnes, Cambodia 2 tonnes, Indonesia 2 tonnes, Serbia 1 tonne, and the UAE 1 tonne. Georgia is part of central banks’ multi-year gold buying spree, and the trend has spread well past the disclosed roster.
Unreported buying, defined as gold acquired by official institutions without immediate disclosure, made up an estimated 57% of 2025’s central bank total. The WGC’s most recent monthly reading, from April 2026 central bank net purchases, showed 17 tonnes of net buying led by Poland in April alone, the WGC’s June update noted.
| Central bank | Q1 2026 net purchases (tonnes) | Reported total gold reserves (tonnes) | Gold as share of total reserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Bank of Poland | 31 | 582 | 28% |
| Central Bank of Uzbekistan | 25 | 416 | 87% |
| People’s Bank of China | 7 | 2,313 | 9% |
What the IMF Just Told Tbilisi
The IMF’s April 2026 Article IV mission painted a Georgia that grew 7.5% in 2025 and accelerated to 8.4% real GDP growth in January and February 2026, per the IMF’s 2026 Article IV on Georgia. Inflation reached 4.3% in March, above the NBG’s 3% target, though core inflation stayed below. The current account deficit narrowed to 2.6% of GDP in 2025 on the back of strong services exports, lower energy import costs, and robust remittances. The fund’s overall read: Georgia “is well positioned to absorb external shocks, supported by strong macroeconomic fundamentals and policy buffers.”
The IMF recommended continued “opportunistic reserve accumulation” in a “highly dollarized economy.” A $500 million Eurobond rollover in January 2026 was the market’s own vote of confidence, and the NBG’s $100 million gold add sits inside the policy framework the IMF endorsed.
The Article IV statement also flagged the geopolitical risks: the war in the Middle East, a possible Ukrainian peace settlement unwinding some of Georgia’s transit and migration gains, and challenges in EU relations that could dampen investor sentiment. Continued reserve buildup is the IMF’s insurance prescription against that risk stack. The $100 million gold bid is a small down payment on the same policy.
The Geopolitical Trigger List Driving the Gold Bids
The NBG’s own announcement names four drivers behind the diversification move. The triggers map one-for-one to the impulses the WGC and other major central banks have cited for the broader 2024 to 2026 gold rush. Both lists name the same conflicts and tensions as the underlying bid.
- The continued conflict in Ukraine
- Escalation across the Middle East
- US-China trade tensions
- The US-Iran conflict that started in February 2026
The WGC’s Q1 2026 review reached the same conclusion through a different door. “Central banks had to contend with heightened uncertainty on multiple fronts,” the council wrote, with “the conflict involving Iran, the US and Israel” adding to “an already fraught geoeconomic environment, driving greater volatility across markets including gold.” The council’s framing: the buying “underscores the broadly strategic nature of their purchases and continued confidence in gold’s role as a store of value during periods of uncertainty.” The 244-tonne quarter came in against the kind of price action that gold’s slide during the US-Iran crisis later laid bare.
Emerging market banks are the cohort that has expanded gold allocations fastest, the WGC argued in its 2025 survey. The reported-and-unreported split for 2025, with 57% of activity not publicly disclosed, signals the diversification motive is now broad. Tbilisi is part of the same picture, on a $7.0 billion scale.
The country’s $7.0 billion reserve pile absorbs a $100 million gold add as part of the broader diversification flow. The same Tbilisi institution cut its policy rate to 8.25% in a separate decision earlier in 2026. Both decisions sit inside the IMF’s “opportunistic reserve accumulation” framework.
The Long Diversification Play Behind the Gold Bid
The NBG framed the purchase as part of a long-term plan, not a one-off reaction to a price move. The bank’s own words on the strategy lay out the rationale in three sentences. The June 2026 announcement also reaffirmed the bank’s intent to consider further diversification.
The purchase is part of its long-term strategy to diversify reserve assets, strengthen resilience and reduce exposure to inflation and geopolitical risks. Monetary gold remains a widely used reserve asset among central banks.
The National Bank of Georgia, the country’s central bank and monetary regulator under acting president Natia Turnava, said the same in its June 2026 announcement. The bank added that it will continue to consider diversification options “in line with long-term strategic goals and international best practice.” The same institution cut its policy rate to 8.25% in an earlier move covered in Georgia’s central bank rate cut to 8.25%, a separate decision but part of the same institutional posture.
The numbers map the trajectory. In 2025, the NBG purchased $2.4 billion in reserves, ending the year at $6.16 billion and reaching $6.65 billion by February 2026. The 2026 reading of $7.0 billion is the new high water mark, and the 15.5% gold share sits inside that same build.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of gold did the National Bank of Georgia just buy?
The NBG bought LBMA-standard gold bars at 999.9 fineness, the investment-grade benchmark used by major central banks. The London Bullion Market Association’s good delivery rules cover weight, fineness, provenance, and refiner accreditation, and 999.9, often called “four nines fine,” is the threshold for good delivery. The 999.9 designation is the same bar standard other institutional reserve managers hold.
What is the IMF reserve adequacy metric?
The IMF’s Assessing Reserve Adequacy (ARA) metric is a risk-weighted measure that covers short-term external debt, broad money, other balance-of-payments drains, and export income. A reading in the 100% to 150% range is what the fund considers broadly adequate, with the 100% mark the minimum. Georgia’s 114.8% reading places the country’s reserves inside that range.
How much gold did central banks buy in 2025?
Central banks bought a net 863 tonnes of gold in 2025, down 21% from 1,092 tonnes in 2024, per the World Gold Council’s full-year review. The lower figure still ran well above the 473-tonne average across 2010 to 2021. Twenty-two institutions reported at least 1 tonne of buying in 2025, per the same source.
Who are the biggest central bank gold buyers in 2026?
Poland led Q1 2026 with 31 tonnes of net purchases, lifting its gold reserves to 582 tonnes, roughly 28% of total reserves and approaching the central bank’s 700-tonne target. Uzbekistan added 25 tonnes to take its reserves to 416 tonnes, where gold makes up 87% of the bank’s total reserves. China added 7 tonnes in the quarter, lifting its reported reserves to 2,313 tonnes, or about 9% of total reserves.
What did the IMF say about Georgia’s reserves in its 2026 review?
The IMF’s April 2026 Article IV mission said Georgia’s reserves “rose to historic highs, exceeding the IMF’s reserve adequacy threshold for the first time since 2022.” The same statement recommended continued “opportunistic reserve accumulation” in a “highly dollarized economy” as the right policy stance.
