G7 countries to ban Russian gold: Gold price likely to rise

Elmau, dt

The Group of Seven (G-7), one of the world's six most powerful democracies, will ban gold imports from Russia on Sunday. The world's leading democracies are preparing to impose one more sanctions in a series of economic sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. The announcement was made shortly after the start of the G-7 summit in Germany with the intention of putting pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Gold prices are likely to rise in the global market following the announcement of the G-7 countries.

"The G-7 will join forces to announce that we will ban gold imports from Russia," US President Joe Biden said on Twitter. Russia has a large share of gold exports in the economy and Russia earns billions of dollars from it. In 2021, Russia exported 12.5 billion pounds of gold. Russia exported 12 billion worth of gold in 2020, about 5 percent of global gold exports. The value of gold has risen in recent months as rich Russians have turned to buying gold in an effort to avoid the financial effects of Western sanctions.

The G-7, an organization of seven of the world's leading developed nations, is holding a two-day summit in Elmou, near Munich, Germany. However, the final decision will be taken at the G-7 annual meeting on Tuesday. Britain has said it is working with G7 members Canada, Japan and the United States to ban gold imports.

Senior Biden officials say gold is Russia's second-largest export after crude oil. In such a situation, a ban on Russian gold would make it difficult for Russia to sell gold in global markets. However, the ban on Russian gold is likely to push up the price of yellow metal in the world. The ban on Russian crude oil and gas has led to a sharp rise in world crude-gas prices.

Biden said in his Twitter message that Russia earns "billions of dollars" from its gold sales. Interestingly, 40 per cent of Russian gold exports were sold to G-7 countries. Russia alone exported more than 90 per cent of its gold to Britain. The United States imported less than કરોડ 500 million worth of gold from Russia in 2016 and less than લાખ 1 million in 2020-21.

The ban on Russian gold would be a direct blow to the Russian rich and Putin's war machine, said British Prime Minister Boris Jones. US President Joe Biden and the presidents of other developed countries will discuss at the G-7 summit how to secure energy supplies between the Russia-Ukraine war. Apart from this, ways to control the rapidly rising inflation in most of the world's economies are also expected to be discussed.

Opportunity for India to buy Russia's cheap gold after crude

New Delhi, Dt

Gold prices are likely to rise globally as G7 countries impose restrictions on gold imports from Russia. In contrast, gold prices in India are likely to fall. In fact, after crude oil, India now has the opportunity to buy cheap gold from Russia. This time of disaster for Russia could be an opportunity for India. Putin offered cheap crude to India after Western countries banned Russian crude. In the same way, Russia is now likely to offer cheap gold to India.