Gold
Buying gold has become a costly exercise... the price of one gram plus VAT makes it the highest ever in Dubai. Image Credit: Gulf News Archive

Dubai: The cost of buying a gram of 22K gold in Dubai has touched an all-time high – at today’s price, it will cost you Dh206 a gram plus another Dh10.25 as VAT.

The Dh216.25 a gram thus goes past the earlier high point of Dh215 a gram on September 6, 2011. There was no value added tax at the time, as the tax came into effect only from January 1, 2018.

“Apart from the already high gold price, any buyer will have to take into account the VAT charges they will incur,” said Cyriac Varghese, General Manager at Sky Jewellery. “If they were paying Dh7 as VAT on January 1, 2018, when Dubai gold price was Dh148 a gram, it has now shot up to Dh10.25 a gram.

“The higher extra costs will definitely influence demand – even before the latest price increases, shopper interest in gold through the first six months had dropped to an all-time low.”

It was earlier this week that gold went past $1,800 an ounce for the first time in nine years, and which is reflected in the Dubai Gold Rate, which gets adjusted four times a day depending on movements in international bullion rates.