Amid short supply of gold in the market, dealers were already forcing consumers to pay Rs 500 over and above the price in line with international rate till Wednesday. [break]
On Wednesday, Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association (Negosida) set the price of gold at Rs 53,500 per tola. On Thursday, they set the price at Rs 54,500 per tola.
"A part of today´s rise, which is Rs 400 to be exact, was due to international price increment," said Tej Ratna Shakya, president of Negosida, who stated that gold on Thursday was priced US$ 25 per troy ounce higher than the previous day.
"Remaining Rs 600 per tola rise in the price is mainly due to the impact of rise in customs duty," he added. The government on Wednesday had hiked the duty on gold import to Rs 1,500 per ten grams from Rs 1,000.
The government decided to raise the import duty on gold mainly after India hiked its customs duty on gold about two weeks ago. The decision was taken on the advice of dealers themselves as they feared the widening of duty gap between the two countries could trigger illicit outflow of gold to India.
Along with gold, the price of silver has also gone up by Rs 20 per tola due to rise in the customs duty. The government on Wednesday had also raised duty on silver import to Rs 4,600 per kg from Rs 2,400 per kg.
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