CBO gold value doubles to RO 468 million as revaluation gain reaches RO 157 million

MUSCAT: The value of bullion held by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) doubled to RO 468.1 million at the end of 2025, from RO 234 million a year earlier, as higher global gold prices generated a substantial revaluation gain on the central bank's holdings.
CBO's 2025 financial statements put the value of bullion at RO 468.125 million on December 31, 2025, compared with RO 233.993 million at the end of 2024. The annual increase amounted to RO 234.1 million, or 100.1 per cent.
A significant part of that increase reflected valuation rather than an equivalent rise in physical gold holdings.
The central bank recorded a RO 157.010 million revaluation gain on bullion under other comprehensive income during 2025, more than three times the RO 48.760 million recorded a year earlier. The revaluation gain alone accounted for about two-thirds of the annual increase in the reported value of bullion.
The gain was recorded outside net profit, which stood at RO 194.096 million for the year, distinguishing the change in the carrying value of gold from the CBO's ordinary earnings.
The difference between the RO 234.1 million increase in bullion value and the RO 157 million revaluation gain is about RO 77.1 million. However, the published financial statements do not provide a detailed reconciliation of gold acquisitions, disposals and valuation movements, meaning the residual cannot be treated simply as the value of new purchases.
Earlier information provides some context on the physical position. Oman Daily reported on April 2, 2026, citing a CBO study, that the central bank's gold holdings had reached 8.74 tonnes by October 2025, when they represented around 9.4 per cent of its net foreign reserve portfolio. The study, according to the newspaper, said the CBO had been gradually increasing its gold position since 2022.
The latest annual accounts do not disclose the physical quantity held at the end of December, making it important to distinguish between growth in the value of the bullion position and growth in the amount of gold itself.
The pattern is also visible across global reserve portfolios. The European Central Bank's The international role of the euro, June 2026, published on 2 June, found that gold accounted for 27 per cent of total official foreign reserves at the end of 2025, compared with 22 per cent for US Treasuries and 15 per cent for the euro.
But when the ECB recalculated the figures using the gold price prevailing at the end of 2023, gold's share fell to 16 per cent, equal to the euro, while US Treasuries rose to 26 per cent. The comparison illustrates how higher prices alone can materially alter the apparent composition of reserves without an equivalent shift in underlying holdings.
Central-bank demand nevertheless remained strong. The World Gold Council estimated net purchases by central banks and other official institutions at 863.3 tonnes in 2025, compared with 1,092.4 tonnes in 2024.
For Oman, bullion represented about 6.3 per cent of the CBO's RO 7.476 billion in gross foreign assets including bullion at end-2025. Securities remained the largest component at RO 3.618 billion, followed by placements abroad at RO 2.915 billion.
The ECB has also pointed to the trade-offs associated with gold as a reserve asset, including price volatility, the absence of remuneration, storage costs for physical holdings and constraints on supply.
For Oman, the higher value of the CBO's gold position adds to reserve diversification, but it also means that movements in international gold prices can have a greater effect on the reported value of that part of the reserve portfolio - in either direction.