A Golden Opportunity: Selling a Small Share of the IMF’s Gold Reserves to Replenish the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) holds 90.5 million ounces of gold on its balance sheet, a legacy from its founding in 1944, when member countries paid their quotas in gold. This idle gold is sitting on the IMF’s balance sheet at a historical cost of $45 per ounce, compared to $2,600 per ounce on global markets.

Meanwhile, the Fund’s Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT), which provides grants to eligible countries to help cover debt service payments after a natural disaster, is in desperate need of replenishment and reform. Currently, only 30 members qualify for CCRT access, while the cash balance hovers at approximately just $103 million.

A new policy brief by Marina Zucker-Marques and Rishikesh Ram Bhandary explores how CCRT access could be expanded and replenished using the proceeds of an IMF gold sale to meet the needs of climate-vulnerable developing countries.

The authors find that by selling just 4 percent of its gold, the IMF could provide debt relief for 86 low-income and climate-vulnerable countries.

Main findings:

• For many developing countries, debt service to the IMF represents a significant portion of total debt service, according to estimations based on data from the World Bank and IMF.
  • For example, in 2025, Madagascar will pay $106 million to the IMF, amounting to 24 percent of their total debt service. This amount is expected to increase to $158 million (41 percent) in 2026.
• The IMF’s existing gold reserves are equivalent to twice the current record IMF lending volume of $120 billion (or SDR 90 billion).
• Relieving all debt repayments due in 2025 and 2026 for all 30 currently eligible countries would require selling just 1.5 percent of the IMF’s gold reserves ($3.49 billion).
  • Expanding CCRT eligibility to include all countries currently eligible for the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT)—69 countries—would increase the amount to 3.7 percent of gold reserves ($8.86 billion).
  • Further expanding eligibility to both PRGT-eligible countries and 17 Small Island and Developing States—86 countries total—would require selling just 4 percent of the IMF’s gold reserves ($9.52 billion).

With current gold prices exceeding $2,600 per ounce, selling a small fraction of gold has the potential to generate significant revenues and easily replenish the CCRT to support climate-vulnerable developing countries.