(Kitco News) –Kazakhstan's central bank has announced plans to rebalance its reserves by selling off some of its massive gold reserves, flipping one of the world’s leading buyers into a big seller for the remainder of 2026.
Aliya Moldabekova, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, explained in a recent interview that the current multi-decade highs in Treasury yields make dollar assets very attractive.
“We haven’t seen levels like this in a long time,” Moldabekova said. “This makes the dollar an attractive option, thereby reducing the appeal of gold as an investment asset.”
Kazakhstan’s central bank maintains the right to buy up to 100% of the gold mined in the country, the world’s eighth-largest gold producer. The central bank halted sales in February last year, and its gold reserves have since ballooned to 386 tonnes. This means gold currently represents approximately 78% of total reserves according to their estimate, which Moldabekova characterized as uncomfortably high. She said the central bank intends to lower gold’s share of its total foreign exchange reserves by about 3% by the end of the year.
“With such a share of gold, our holdings are starting to resemble a single-asset portfolio,” she said, adding that the central bank’s $66.4 billion in foreign currency reserves must remain liquid.
Moldabekova said half of the reduction in the gold reserve will be accomplished through sales of physical gold, with the other half coming by selling options, but if the gold price drops below $4,000 per ounce, the reserves could decline to the 75% target on their own.
“Market forecasts indicate that the price of gold will continue to rise,” Moldabekova said. “Therefore, we would prefer not to plan too far ahead; rather, we would achieve the 75% level and then continue to monitor the situation from there,” Moldabekova said. “Given that significant uncertainty persists, we nevertheless expect a slight rise in the price of gold.”
The National Bank of Kazakhstan has been the fourth-largest sovereign buyer of gold bullion through the first eight months of 2026, according to World Gold Council data. The WGC’s latest central bank gold update noted that the National Bank of Kazakhstan bought seven tonnes of gold in August, bringing its year-to-date gold purchases to 36 tonnes. “Kazakhstan’s gold now stands at 79% of total reserves, or about 377t,” the report noted.
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