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People’s Bank of China Adds 8 Tonnes of Gold in April

The April purchase followed a 5-tonne increase in March, extending the central bank’s reported buying streak to 18 consecutive months.

Fact Check
All three specific claims are corroborated by multiple independent sources. China Daily (citing official PBoC data released May 7, 2026) confirms 260,000 troy ounces (~8 tonnes) were added in April 2026, bringing total holdings to 74.64 million ounces. Kitco News (May 8, 2026) independently confirms the purchase and the 18-month streak, citing World Gold Council analyst Krishan Gopaul. The VT Markets report also confirms the 260,000-ounce figure. The KobeissiLetter X post (the original linked source) aligns with all corroborating data on the 8-tonne April purchase, the 5-tonne March purchase, and the 18-consecutive-month buying streak. The only minor caveat is that the PBoC's own website was not directly fetched to confirm the raw data release, but China Daily and Kitco both explicitly reference the official PBoC data release of May 7, 2026.
Summary

China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, added 8 tonnes of gold in April, its largest monthly increase since December 2024, according to the provided update. The move followed a 5-tonne purchase in March, making the March-April period the second-largest two-month addition since the first quarter of 2024. The report also says the latest increase marked an 18th straight month of official gold purchases, underscoring continued reserve accumulation by the central bank. Gold buying by central banks is commonly watched by financial markets as a signal of reserve diversification and long-term balance sheet positioning.

Terms & Concepts
  • Official holdings: Assets formally held by a central bank as part of national reserves, including gold and foreign currencies.
  • Central bank reserves: Foreign assets and monetary gold held by a central bank to support currency stability and broader financial policy.
  • Reserve diversification: The strategy of spreading national reserves across different assets to reduce concentration risk.