Among retail investors, there is also a growing understanding of the role of the precious metal in long-term capital protection.
Poland has more gold than the European Central Bank, and it does not intend to slow down the pace of building this safety cushion.
The scale of purchases and the rate of accumulation make the National Bank of Poland one of the most active players in the global gold market.
The President of the NBP, Adam Glapiński, has emphasized for several years that gold plays a special role in the structure of national reserves - it is an asset free from credit risk, independent of other countries' monetary policy decisions, and resilient to financial shocks, while high gold reserves contribute to the stability of the Polish economy.
The bank's ambitions are far-reaching: the goal is to have 700 tons of gold, and the total value of gold reserves should amount to about 400 billion zlotys.
As of 2024, gold accounted for 16.86 percent of Poland's foreign exchange reserves. According to estimates, by the end of December 2025, this figure will jump to 28.22 percent, which will be one of the fastest changes in the structure of reserves among central banks worldwide. The largest operations were conducted in the last months of 2025, during a period of increased market volatility and geopolitical tension.
At the initiative of the President of the National Bank of Poland, Professor Adam Glapiński, the Management Board of the National Bank of Poland decided to further strategically increase the share of gold.
In January 2026, Glapiński announced that he would ask the NBP board to make a decision to increase reserves to 700 tons of bullion.
According to an analysis by the World Gold Council, in 2025, the global trend of central banks accumulating gold continued. With rare exceptions, most countries increased their reserves, viewing bullion as a strategic means of protection against currency and financial crises.
In 2025, 95 percent of surveyed central banks expect that global gold reserves will increase over the next twelve months.
The reasons why central banks invest in gold are explained by Marta Bassani-Prusik, Director of Investment Products and Currency Values at the Mint of Poland.
"One of the key incentives for central banks is the independence of the gold price from monetary policy and credit risk. Equally important is asset diversification and reducing the share of the dollar and other currencies in reserves," the expert explains.
Experts note that not all central banks report the full extent of their purchases. In this context, China and Russia are often mentioned. Some market observers interpret these actions as part of preparations for an alternative monetary model in which gold may play a much larger role than before.
The fact that Poland has larger reserves than the ECB is significant. The ECB manages the monetary policy of the eurozone, but its own gold reserves are relatively limited.
The gold reserves of the European Central Bank (ECB) amount to about 506.5 tons. Against this backdrop, the scale of the NBP's gold reserves - 550 tons - is impressive and strengthens Poland's position in the European financial architecture.
As experts from the Mint of Poland note, the greater the uncertainty in the markets, the higher the interest in assets perceived as a "safe haven." Among retail investors, there is also a growing understanding of the role of gold in long-term capital protection.
However, some economists oppose this thesis and believe that a high share of gold may not meet the needs of flexible reserve management in the modern economy and that funds are better directed to other, more productive investments.
Reaching 550 tons is an important milestone, but announcements of further purchases indicate that Poland has not yet said its last word. In a world of growing geopolitical tension and changing financial order, gold is once again becoming one of the key assets, and Poland wants to be at the forefront of this game.
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