The National Bank of Rwanda has started investing part of the country’s foreign-exchange reserves in gold, adding the precious metal to its portfolio as it seeks to diversify its holdings and protect them against volatility in global markets.
Governor Soraya Hakuziyaremye said the central bank began investing in gold in July 2025 and that the decision had already generated returns, despite fluctuations in gold prices in recent months.
Governor Soraya Hakuziyaremye
“We started investing in gold as a central bank from July last year. It was a timely decision because it helped us get returns from gold prices, although they have fluctuated in recent months,” Hakuziyaremye said.
She was speaking Thursday as the central bank presented its Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Statement.
Hakuziyaremye said the investment was intended not only to generate returns but also to preserve the value of Rwanda’s reserves by reducing reliance on a single class of assets.
“This investment helped us diversify the assets in which we invest, obtain a good return and preserve capital,” she said.
The governor did not disclose how much Rwanda has invested in gold or the volume acquired, saying the figures would be included in the central bank’s annual financial statements, which are still being prepared.
The investment comes as central banks globally continue to use gold as one of the assets in their reserve portfolios, helping spread risk when international financial markets are volatile.
Hakuziyaremye said central banks can allocate part of their reserves to gold as a way of diversifying their assets and protecting the value of their holdings. She put the typical share held by central banks globally at between 10% and 15%, without indicating that Rwanda had allocated that proportion of its reserves to gold.
Rwanda’s foreign-exchange reserves stood at a level sufficient to cover about 4.1 months of imports as of June 30, according to figures presented by the central bank.
Foreign-exchange reserves provide a buffer for a country to meet external payment obligations, finance imports and respond to disruptions in foreign-exchange markets.
The central bank said it would continue monitoring the performance of gold alongside other assets in Rwanda’s reserve portfolio, with further details on the investment expected in its annual financial statements.
