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The jewellers in Bangladesh have slashed prices of gold after pushing the precious yellow metal’s prices to all-time highs.
They will sell the best quality of gold, or 22 carat, at Tk 3,499 less per Bhori (1 Bhori = 11.664 grams) than the current price from Thursday, Bangladesh Jewellers Samity or Bajus announced on Wednesday, bdnews24.com reports.
New gold prices (per Bhori):
22 carat – Tk 73,716
21 carat – Tk 70,567
18 carat – Tk 61,819
For the traditional method, in which gold is acquired from old ornaments with no agreed standards of purity, the price has been fixed at Tk 51,497 per Bhori.
In the international market, gold swung from being down 2.5 per cent to adding 0.8 per cent to $1,925.63 an ounce, a day after it suffered its biggest daily fall in seven years.
Generally Bajus raises or cuts gold prices by around Tk 1,500 per Bhori.
But the association raised gold prices by up to Tk 5,715 a Bhori on June 22, a further Tk 3,000 on July 24, and by Tk 4,432 to Tk 77,216 per Bhori for the last time on August 05.
Bajus General Secretary Dilip Kumar Agarwala told the news agency that they made the decision to lower the prices in order to attract customers amid the coronavirus crisis even though the prices in the international market were volatile.
Sales have dropped almost to zero at the jewellery shops in Bangladesh as gold prices have skyrocketed shattering all records amid the coronavirus crisis, but the stores are still open mainly to buy gold ornaments.
Many families are selling their ornaments because the high prices have come as a lucrative offer along with the fact that the pandemic has caused devastating job losses and pushed income down.