Gold Worth A$15.4 Billion: A Look Inside the RBA's September Reserves Tally

The Reserve Bank's official reserve assets rose to A$109.7 billion at the end of September 2026, with gold making up about one-seventh of the total.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) holds a stock of foreign currency, gold and claims on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) known as official reserve assets. Its latest monthly tally, for September 2026 and released on 8 October, put the total at A$109,715 million, up A$3,696 million from A$106,019 million in August.

Gold accounted for A$15,369 million of that, or roughly A$15.4 billion. It is not the largest component, but it is a significant one. This article breaks down the September figures, works through what they show, and is clear about what a single monthly release cannot explain.

The September breakdown

The RBA's release lists five components, all in Australian dollars (millions):

They are not RBA figures. The listed components add to A$109,716 million, one million more than the published total, a difference that is consistent with rounding in the underlying data.

Reading the numbers

A few features stand out.

• Foreign exchange dominates. At A$68.7 billion, foreign currency holdings make up a little under two-thirds of the total, more than the other four components combined.
• Gold is the third-largest item. At A$15.4 billion, gold is worth about 14 per cent of reserves, behind foreign exchange and SDRs, but more than twice the IMF reserve position and "other" assets combined.
• IMF-related assets are substantial. SDRs and the IMF reserve position together come to A$22,644 million, a little over a fifth of the total.
• The total grew in September. The rise of A$3,696 million represents an increase of about 3.5 per cent on August's A$106,019 million.

What moved the total? What is and isn't known

Did the RBA buy gold or foreign currency in September? The figures available here do not say. The release reports end-of-month values; on its own it does not distinguish between transactions and changes in valuation.

Could exchange rates have played a role? Because the reserves are reported in Australian dollars, any assets valued in other currencies or units, such as SDRs, can change in reported value when the Australian dollar moves, even if the quantity held stays the same. The same is true of gold if its price changes. However, the material reviewed for this article does not include the RBA's attribution of the September change, so it is not possible to say how much, if any, came from currency or price movements.

How much gold does the RBA hold by weight? The figures available here are in dollar values only. No quantity is given, so this article does not estimate one.

These gaps matter. It would be easy to read a rising gold line as evidence of purchases, or a rising total as a policy signal. Neither conclusion is supported by the figures alone.

Where the currency stood

For context, the RBA's published exchange rates at 4.00 pm on 9 October 2026, the day after the reserves release, were:

• US dollar: 0.6979
• Japanese yen: 110.34
• Euro: 0.6215
• Chinese renminbi: 4.6738
• Trade-weighted index: 64.8

Assistant Governor (Financial Markets) Christopher Kent noted in a speech on 13 August 2026 that the trade-weighted Australian dollar had risen about 5 per cent since the start of 2026. Governor Michele Bullock told her 29 September media conference that "according to our research, in fact, the most important channel is the exchange rate channel" in how interest rate changes work through the economy. These remarks concern monetary policy transmission, not the management of reserves, and neither official linked them to the reserves figures.

The SDR also features elsewhere in the RBA's statistics. Its Index of Commodity Prices is published in SDR terms as well as Australian dollar terms; in September 2026 that index was up 15.5 per cent over the year in SDRs and 6.6 per cent in Australian dollars.

Why the reserves tally is worth watching

Official reserve assets are a stock measure, published monthly, that sits alongside the RBA's better-known roles in setting the cash rate and overseeing the payments system. The cash rate target is currently 4.60 per cent, after the Monetary Policy Board raised it by 25 basis points on 29 September 2026, effective 30 September.

The reserves release is not a policy statement and carries no forward guidance. It is a balance-sheet snapshot. Month-to-month changes in the totals are data points rather than signals; the RBA's own explanations, where published, are the authoritative guide to what drove them, and motives cannot be read from the totals alone.

Upcoming RBA publications may offer broader context on the institution's operations. The RBA Annual Report 2026 is scheduled for release after 3.00 pm AEDT on Thursday 15 October 2026. Its contents are not yet known, and this article does not anticipate what it will say about reserves.

The bottom line

The RBA's official reserve assets stood at A$109,715 million at the end of September 2026, up A$3,696 million on August. Gold made up A$15,369 million, about 14 per cent of the total, behind foreign exchange (A$68,723 million) and SDRs (A$19,318 million).

The monthly figures show the size and composition of reserves, but not, on their own, why they changed. Whether the September increase reflected transactions, valuation effects or both is not answered by the data reviewed here.