The surge in gold has exploded the gold reserves of the Bank of Italy, which remains the fourth holder of gold reserves in the world, after the US Federal Reserve, the German Bundesbank and the International Monetary Fund. This is what emerges from the Bank of Italy’s 2025 budget, approved today by the Assembly, which closes with a profit of 1.7 billion, in line with Palazzo Koch’s forecasts.
Gold reserves soar to 289 billion
The total quantity of Italian gold reserves is equal to 2,452 tonnes, consisting mainly of ingots (95,493) and a smaller part of coins. The gold is kept in the vaults of the Bank of Italy and primary central banks (5.8% in the United Kingdom, 6.1% in Switzerland, 43.3% in the United States).
As a result of the sharp increase in gold prices, as of 31 December 2025, the euro value of the gold held by the Via Nazionale Institute rose to 289.2 billion euros from 197.9 billion at the end of 2024. The increase, equal to 91.3 billion, is entirely attributable to the increase in the market price of the metal, equal to 46.1% expressed in euros.
Governor Fabio Panetta recalled that “all the assets and liabilities of the Bank of Italy, including gold, are held and managed with the interests of Italy and Europe as their sole reference”, but the 2026 Budget Law “introduced an interpretative rule according to which – in compliance with the attributions contained in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union – the gold reserves managed and held by the Bank of Italy, as recorded in its balance sheet, belong to the Italian people”. This year too there is no mention of the desire to change the quantity of gold held or to “repatriate” part of the gold held abroad.
The 2025 budget closes in profit
In 2025, the Bank of Italy’s balance sheet grew by approximately 10 billion euros, with a trend that mainly reflected the capital gains on gold reserves, amounting to 91 billion, which more than compensated for the decrease in securities held for monetary policy purposes, which fell by over 80 billion. The overall size of the balance sheet at the end of 2025 grew slightly compared to the previous year, standing at 1,113 billion.
The 2025 financial year closes with a net profit of 1.7 billion euros, compared to 0.8 billion in 2024, and with a gross result that has returned to positive for around 3 billion, as already anticipated by the Bank of Italy three years ago. In the financial years 2023 and 2024 the Bank of Italy reported gross losses equal to 7.1 and 7.3 billion respectively
The decline in official rates and budget stocks translated into a strong improvement in the interest margin. “In previous years – underlined Panetta – profitability had been penalized by the increase in the cost of liabilities in euro caused by the rise in official rates, exceptional in terms of intensity and speed, necessary to counteract the strong increase in inflation!”.
The dividend
Given a positive gross result, Governor Panetta proposed to assign a dividend of 340 million out of the net profit of 1,652 million. This amount has been recognized since the start of the dividend distribution policy in 2015 and has also been paid out in the last two financial years, through the integration taken from the special item for the stabilization of dividends.
Compared to the 5% holding threshold established by law, there are an excess of 1,040 shares of participation in the bank’s capital, which do not have economic rights; the corresponding dividend, equal to 1,178,667 euros, is attributed to the ordinary reserve.
The residual profit allocated to the State would be equal to 1,272 million, approximately double compared to 2024. “In the last ten years, participants have been recognized in total 2.9 billion – the Governor pointed out – in the same period the resources allocated to the State have reached 41.3 billion, of which 34.8 from the net profit and 6.5 paid as current taxes, for IRES and IRAP purposes”.
