363 Billion Dollars Worth of Gold Kept Under the Mattress in Turkey
Billions Locked Away in Hidden Gold
According to an analysis prepared by QNB economists, gold savings kept under the mattress in Turkey increased by 51 tons in the first eight months of this year, reaching 3,100 tons in total. When calculated with the latest gold prices, this stockpile is worth around 363 billion dollars.
A large part of Turkey’s gold investments remains outside the banking system. QNB economists Erkin Işık, Deniz Çiçek, and Şakir Oktay Gür estimated the size of hidden gold holdings in their latest report. Based on their calculations, households in Turkey currently hold around 3,100 tons of gold, equivalent to 363 billion dollars.
How the Estimates Were Calculated
The economists emphasized that there is no official data on hidden gold, so they based their calculations on foreign trade and domestic production figures. They used gold import and export data published monthly by TurkStat, combined with average international gold prices, to estimate tonnage. They then added domestic gold production to calculate net gold inflows.
Based on this methodology, the total gold stock inside the country is around 4,210 tons as of August, equivalent to roughly 500 billion dollars at current prices.
Annual Changes in Gold Stock
The report shows that in 2022, the increase in gold stock was 257 tons, which rose to 361 tons in 2023. However, as Turkish lira interest rates climbed, the trend of de-dollarization gained momentum and demand for gold investments slowed. By 2024, the increase dropped to 176 tons. Over the last 12 months up to August 2025, the stock rose by only 171 tons.
The Role of Banks and the State
The economists pointed out that not all of this gold is off the record. With policy changes after 2019, deposits in gold-backed bank accounts rose sharply, peaking at 667 tons in February 2021. By the end of 2024, these accounts declined to 496 tons, before edging back up to 524 tons by August 2025. They noted that the closure of FX-protected deposit schemes could push more gold savings into the banking system.
Meanwhile, public gold holdings also shifted. The Central Bank’s reserves fell by 15 tons last year to 512 tons, while the Treasury’s reserves increased by 11 tons to 61 tons. Overall, government-owned reserves dropped slightly to 573 tons in 2024. In the first eight months of 2025, however, Central Bank reserves rose by 30 tons, while Treasury holdings fell by 16 tons, bringing total public reserves up to 587 tons.
Slowing Growth in Hidden Gold
Outside government and banking holdings, the rest is believed to represent off-the-record, hidden savings. According to QNB’s analysis, this stash rose by 143 tons in 2024 to 3,049 tons, and by another 51 tons in the first eight months of 2025 to reach 3,100 tons. That equals roughly 363 billion dollars worth of hidden wealth.
However, the pace of accumulation has slowed. Monthly growth in hidden gold investments now averages just 6 tons, with annual growth hovering around 100 tons. Economists highlight that both attractive lira deposit rates and historically high gold prices may have curbed new household demand. They underline that the trend in the coming months will depend on interest rate movements and whether investors keep shifting away from lira deposits back into gold.
(By Şebnem Turhan on ekonomim.com – Translated and edited by BTT)
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