Gold was historically used as a currency. When paper money came into the picture, it was initially backed by gold to inspire confidence. Gold holds the characteristics of a currency, a financial asset and also has quasi-foreign exchange attributes. After the US came off the gold standard in 1971, there is currently no other national currency in the world backed by gold. With the rise of paper currency, governments acquired great power to print currency at will. It is said that with great power comes great responsibility. However, the record shows that governments around the world have too often shirked the responsibility to exercise this power with due care. And whenever this power was misused, it set off inflationary spirals in the economy, which acted as a check on the power of governments to issue or print currency at will.
Gold is also a rare commodity which ensures its continuing appeal. Every year, fresh mining of gold adds only about 2,500 to 3,000 tonnes to the supply. According to the World Gold Council, the total amount of gold mined over the ages would be around 190,000 tonnes of which India is estimated to hold as much as 35,000 tonnes, and that is nearly 20% of al the global gold ever mined! This should be viewed against India’s share in land area at 2.4%, in population at 17%, and in GDP at 3.9%. Moreover, India’s share in global gold demand is about 22% a year (average annual net gold import of 800 tonnes) against a share of 2% in world trade.
Gold during an Economic Crisis
This story is from the July - August 2020 edition of UNIQUE TIMES.
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This story is from the July - August 2020 edition of UNIQUE TIMES.
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