The economic crisis and fear of money devaluation made the Greeks turn to the good old gold. According to the Greek edition Imerisia, the forgotten gold investment product has proved hugely popular in the branches of Piraeus Bank. Vagaries of the market again made the gold investment (literally) the most preferred way to prevent the effects of the crisis, the experts say. The price of the gold on world markets reached $1300 per ounce this week and the estimates of financial analysts show it could reach even $2300 per ounce.
According to a representative of ING Investment Management cited by Naftemboriki, gold no longer compensates only the inflation effects, it generally protects the investor from any regular risks. Analysts are confident and expect the price to continue to grow gradually for half a year. NBF Financial economist Stephane Marion believes that the price of gold is far from its highest possible value. He estimated that the price of the precious metal could be considered ballooned once it exceeds $2000 an ounce. This is also the opinion of the economist David Beahm – Vice President of Blanchard and Company, who noted that the price of gold has fluctuated always at lower levels than inflation since the early 1980s.
He has forecasted that one ounce could cost even $2200-2300, although in the short run, he foresees a slight decrease in price due to its rapid rise lately, which proved quite serious. According to the specialist, the present market conditions predispose the constant increase in the price of the precious metal and this will probably last between three to five years. He said that the price would drop when the U.S. economy stabilizes and the dollar strengthens its positions and when the Eurozone countries overcome the economic difficulties as much as possible – problems that won’t be solve for a short time.
At the same time it became clear that central banks around the world increasingly hold gold as its sales fell by about 40% over the past 12 months. According to a publication in Ethnos newspaper, the gold sold within the Eurozone is the record 96 percent less than the 142 tonnes of gold sold during the past year. The gold price recorded gradual increase around the world in the last ten years and this is considered the longest period of growth since 1920 until now. Central banks in the world adopted an agreement in 1999 to limit the quantity of the precious metal for sale. First, it was 400 tons per year, and later the limited quantity for sale was raised to 500 tons per year. Today, due to the financial problems of the Eurozone and the USA, most central banks reduced the gold offered for sale to a minimum, which also influences its price inevitably.
In Greece, the precious metal is only available in the Bank of Greece and in some branches of the private commercial bank Piraeus.
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