The Bangladesh Jewellers’ Association on Friday further increased the gold price by Tk 1,166 per vori (11.66 gram) to Tk 50,721 only 10 days after setting the price at Tk 49,555.
Jewellers in the capital said the continued price spiral of gold on the global market and depreciation of taka against dollar compelled them to go for raising the gold price again.
The BJA on Friday declared the new gold price, effective from the same day.
According to the new price chart, the price of 22 carat gold has been raised by 2.34 per cent from Tk 49,555 per vori to Tk 50,721. The price of 21 carat gold has been increased by Tk 1,108 to Tk 48,447 per vori and that of 18 carat gold by Tk 986 to Tk 43,112.
Earlier on July 20, the BJA had increased the price of 22 carat gold to Tk 49,555 per vori from Tk 48,389. The price of 21 carat gold was raised to Tk 47,340 per vori from Tk 46,232 and 18 carat gold to Tk 42,151 from Tk 41,218.
With this the price of 22 carat gold has been increased by Tk 2,332 or 4.82 per cent in the past 10 days.
BJA general secretary Dewan Aminul Islam Shahin said the association reset the gold price as its global price had increased by $30 per ounce (28 grams) from $1,600 over the past week.
Dewan Aminul admitted that the increased gold price would discourage consumers from purchasing gold jewelleries.
The sale of gold jewelleries has been on the wane since December 2008, when the government raised the value-added tax on sales of gold jewelleries to 4.5 per cent from 1.5 per cent, he added.
He also mentioned that India recently reduced the VAT imposed on sales of jewelleries from 2 per cent to 1 per cent to match the local gold price with consumers’ purchasing capacity.
Consumers in Bangladesh currently have to pay a VAT of Tk 2,270 per vori of gold purchased.
The BJA general secretary said the association would go for a country-wide strike and hold a human chain in front of the Baitul Mokarram National Mosque on August 3 in demand of reduction of VAT on gold jewelleries as their letters to the finance ministry and the National Board of Revenue seeking a reduction in VAT had proved futile.
-With New Age input
