Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Figure 1. World Gold Reserves and Foreign Official Holdings of Treasuries

This is a line chart showing monthly data from 2000 through March 2026. The y-axis measures billions of dollars and ranges from -1000 to 8000. There are three lines plotted. A solid green line plots foreign official holdings of U.S. Treasuries; the series begins at just under 1000 billion dollars and steadily climbs to pick around 4000 billion dollars in 2014. It remains roughly flat until about 2022 where it declines slightly to about 3800 billion dollars at the start of 2023. From there, it gradually rises back to about 4000 billion dollars in March 2026. A dotted blue line plots world gold reserves; the series begins at around 300 billion dollars in 2000 and gradually climbs to an initial peak just under 2000 billion dollars in 2012. It then declines to about 1200 billion dollars in 2015. From 2015 through 2023 it slowly increases to 2200 billion dollars before surging to a peak just over 6000 billion dollars in early 2026. It crosses the line for foreign official holdings of U.S. Treasuries in mid-2025. The third series is a dashed red line showing world gold reserves excluding those of the U.S. Its movements mirror those for the world gold reserves line but at lower values. It surpasses the line for foreign official holdings of U.S. Treasuries in late 2025 and peaks at a value just under 5000 billion dollars in early 2026. The end points at June 2026 for the red and green lines are roughly equal to each other.

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Figure 2. Cumulative Gold Purchases

This is a line chart showing quarterly data from the first quarter of 2019 through the first quarter of 2026. The y-axis measures metric tons and ranges from -1000 to 7000 metric tons. There are two lines plotted. One is a dashed blue line showing cumulative gold purchases by the official sector. It begins near 0 and steadily rises to about 1500 metric tons by mid-2022. From there, the series increases at a faster rate, reaching just under 6000 metric tons in the second quarter of 2026. The second line is a solid red line showing cumulative gold purchases by gold-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The series begins at zero and rises to about 1500 metric tons in the second quarter of 2020. It remains roughly flat until the first quarter of 2022 and then steadily declines to a trough just around 750 metric tons in the second quarter of 2024. Beginning in the first quarter of 2025 it starts increasing rapidly, ending around 1500 metric tons in the second quarter of 2026.

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Figure 3. Modified World Gold Reserves and Foreign Holdings of Treasuries (Excludes U.S., Germany, France, Italy, IMF)

This is a line chart showing monthly data from 2000 through March 2026, with the y-axis measuring billions of dollars and ranging from -1000 to 5000. There are two lines plotted. The first is a dashed green line showing estimated foreign official holdings of Treasuries excluding those of France, Germany, Italy, and the IMF. It begins at about 500 billion dollars in 2000 and reaches a peak in 2014 at around 4000 billion dollars. It remains steady until 2022, when it declines to around 3500 billion dollars by the start of 2023. It rises slightly to reach about 3600 billion dollars in June 2026. The second line is a solid orange line showing world gold reserves excluding those of the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, and the IMF. It begins around 100 billion dollars in 2000 and climbs to an initial peak of 700 billion dollars in 2012. It declines somewhat before increasing between 2019 and 2020 to reach 1000 billion dollars. It remains around that level until growing rapidly beginning in 2024. It reaches a peak in early 2026 at about 3000 billion dollars. It declines somewhat to end around $2500 billion dollars in June 2026.

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