Russians buy record amounts of gold

Gold has become a new way of saving for  Russians. Last year saw the highest volume of purchases of gold bars, coins and jewellery in a decade. Russia was among the top five gold-loving countries. Why has demand for this type of investment soared, and what happened to the love of dollars and euros, deposits and real estate?
In 2024, the highest volume of gold purchases since 2013 was recorded - 75.6 tonnes in the form of jewellery, coins and bars, according to experts from the World Gold Council. As a result, Russia entered the top five countries in the world in terms of gold investment.

At the same time, gold prices have been rising over the past year - and are continuing to set records this week. On Wednesday a new record of $2,882 an ounce was set. Economists at Citi Research have raised their gold price forecast for the next three months from $2,800 to $3,000 an ounce. The reason for this is the escalation of the trade war between the US and China, prompted by the White House. While it was possible to quickly reach an agreement with Canada and Mexico and remove the tariffs, this was not possible with China. Beijing responded with countermeasures against US energy resources.
It turns out that the Russians have chosen a good strategy for investing in gold? "Russians have been buying more gold since 2022. The conscious policy of the state, which abolished VAT on gold bullion and waived personal income tax for two years, helped. This policy of fiscal incentives worked. Finally, I think the figure of 75.6 tonnes is inaccurate because it is impossible to calculate the secondary market for gold coins. Only from 1 March this year will gold coins be taken into account in the precious metals turnover accounting system (GIIS DMDK). Bars are already included and jewellery has been deferred. I therefore believe that the figure of 100 tonnes is a more accurate assessment of the purchases of gold bars, coins and jewellery by Russians last year. To put it in perspective, in the 2010s Russians bought only three to four tonnes of gold a year," says Alexey Vyazovsky, vice-president of Zolotaya Plata.
The expert explains that the state has introduced tax breaks to prevent an outflow of funds from banks. "Usually, at the beginning of a crisis, people immediately run to the banks to withdraw their deposits and then invest these roubles in dollars and euros, bringing down the banking system. In order to counteract this phenomenon, which has occurred repeatedly in Russia's history, a number of correct decisions were taken, the fruits of which we are still seeing today," says Vyazovsky.
It has been possible to reduce the outflow of capital, not to collapse the banking system, but to support it, because banks are actively involved in gold transactions. Moreover, impersonal metal accounts are also setting records.

The country's budget also benefits from the increased demand for gold.

"Gold is mined on Russian territory, so we are not dependent on imports. Last year, 328 tonnes were mined, and some of this gold is now being consumed within Russia. This is a great story because the state also earns extra money,because taxes are paid to the budget along the entire chain. The mining industry, the refineries, the banks and the population. Personal income tax was only abolished for two years, and now you have to pay it if you sell a bar that you have owned for less than three years," says the vice-president of Golden Plata.
In addition to investing in dollars and euros, there is another common tool for preserving savings and making a profit - investing in real estate.

"Gold is a big winner compared to property. First of all, because the entry threshold is much lower. Even Moscow pensioners come to us. A three-gram gold coin "St. George the Victorious" costs 30 thousand roubles, and to buy an apartment you need 8 million roubles. Secondly, gold has a higher return. We recently conducted an analysis and took the dynamics for ten years - from 2014 to 2024. In Moscow, the average price of a square metre has increased from 200 to 270 thousand rubles in ten years, and gold has increased by 650% in ten years," says Vyazovsky.
There is no need to talk about the stock market at all, it is not about income, it is about how not to lose your own, the expert believes.

Cryptocurrency, which was legalised in Russia last year, has also become popular as a protective asset. Now you can legally mine and own cryptocurrency, but you can't pay for goods and services with it.

"But if we don't take bitcoin, which has grown more than gold, then most other currencies are fraudulent stories. We can remember how Trumpcoin was inflated to high values and then immediately collapsed, and people in America lost millions on these Trumpcoins. For ordinary investors, especially older people, investing in crypto is uncomfortable and unsafe in terms of fraud," Vyazovsky believes.

After all, last year Russians massively transferred money to deposits, the volume of which increased by one and a half times. This is because the return on bank deposits rose sharply to 20-23% against the background of the Central Bank's interest rate hikes. And yet, the return on bank deposits is incomparable with the return on gold: in 2024, gold in roubles grew by 44%, and in dollars - by 30%, notes Vyazovsky. At the same time, he expects new historical records for gold both in dollars and rubles in 2025.

"Back in the summer we predicted that gold would cost $3,000 an ounce. We are already close to that level, that level can be expected by March-April. And in roubles, gold will go up to 10 thousand roubles per gram by spring," he says.

Trump started a trade war with China, which responded by raising tariffs on American energy resources. "And tariffs are inflation. When inflation is high, gold becomes more expensive. There are statistics for the US over 50 years, where for eight years inflation was above five percent, and for the US that is a lot, because the average inflation is 2-3%. And in each of those years, gold rose by an average of 14.5%. The statistics clearly show that when the inflationary flywheel is turning, gold becomes more expensive," the interviewee concludes.

However, leading analyst of AMarkets Igor Rastorguev does not share this optimism: "Last year the price of gold rose from 2060 to 2700 dollars, but there is no guarantee of such a steady growth in 2025. Therefore, investing in gold is interesting, but today there are other options". According to him, interesting offers on the residential and non-residential property market are always relevant, and there is a new trend of investing in DFA - digital financial assets. Forecasts indicate that the market volume may grow to 250 billion roubles, the expert says.

"If investments are diversified in general, gold can not only generate income in case of price growth, but also partially hedge the risks of ruble weakening, as gold is traded in US dollars. Judging by the continued demand for gold from a number of central banks, the potential for price increases remains. It is unlikely that prices will show such an impressive result as in 2024, but moderate growth is very likely," said Vladimir Evstifeev, head of analytical services at Zenit Bank.