Global Gold Buying Frenzy Sends Prices Soaring

Senior INDEF economist Aviliani said various countries are flocking to buy gold as a foreign exchange reserve. In fact, gold purchases are being made on a massive scale and are driving up its price.

“We see countries that are hoarding gold, whose foreign exchange reserves are large and whose currencies are falling. Right now we see why the gold price is rising — because they are buying gold,” she said at Mindialogue 2026 on Wednesday (12/8/2026).

According to her, the massive gold purchases have caused world gold prices to surge. Referring to Refinitiv, the gold price in trading on Tuesday (11/8/2026) closed at US$4,366.84 per troy ounce. Then on Wednesday (12/8/2026) at 06.46 WIB, the gold price strengthened slightly by 0.06% to US$4,369.78 per troy ounce.

She stressed that there is no rule on the amount of gold foreign exchange reserves a country must hold, particularly Indonesia. This is because Indonesia’s foreign exchange reserve preference is the US dollar.

“But the American economic condition is starting to weaken. That is why people are starting to turn to gold. People have begun to lose trust in the dollar with the policy shift from liberalisation to protectionism,” Aviliani explained.

According to her, amid the rise in gold prices, commodity prices tend to fluctuate. For that reason, what needs to be anticipated is commodity prices.

“We tend to have to anticipate this because once something becomes a commodity, its added value tends to be large. The government’s hope for downstreaming is that even if there are fluctuations, we will not be affected,” Aviliani said.