Several gold-producing nations across sub-Saharan Africa are shifting strategy, directing their central banks to purchase domestic gold output rather than exporting it entirely, in a bid to reduce vulnerability to international market swings. Uganda's central bank launched a formal national gold programme in March 2026, signing contracts with local refineries Eurogold and Felstein to process purchases for its foreign exchange reserves; the Democratic Republic of Congo's central bank also received its first domestically mined gold bars in a decade last week. The trend is broadening: Tanzania has since 2024 required domestic mining exporters to set aside 20% of production for national stockpiles, Ghana already holds local gold as one-third of its central bank reserves through a five-year-old scheme, and Kenya and Burkina Faso have both announced plans to follow suit.