Gold Investment Surges 60% in a Year, Becoming a Market Darling

Jakarta, Liputan6.com – The Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, revealed that Indonesia now for the first time has a Bank Emas with a roadmap for developing its ecosystem. The roadmap was launched after the gold bank had been operating for about a year. He explained that the government chose to run the program first before drafting the full roadmap. ‘For the first time we have Bank Emas. At the time, the challenge was whether we should make the roadmap first or operate first. We finally decided to operate first; the roadmap would follow. And it turned out to follow a year later,’ Airlangga said.

According to him, the launch of the roadmap also strengthens the gold bank ecosystem in Indonesia, which is now showing significant performance as world gold prices rise. Airlangga said that when the gold bank was first launched, gold prices were around $3,000 per troy ounce. Now gold prices have surged to more than $5,000, or about $5,236 per troy ounce.

‘So with this investment, Mr Pandu (CIO Danantara), it has risen by 60% in a year. So where else would you invest, Mr Pandu?’ Airlangga quipped.

Rising public interest in gold investment is also reflected in the performance of financial institutions managing gold products, including PT Pegadaian. Airlangga noted Pegadaian recorded an ROA of 6.7% from its gold business.

Pegadaian Gold Savings: The number of customers of Pegadaian Gold Savings rose significantly from 3.2 million to 5.7 million customers. Meanwhile, total public gold savings rose from 10.5 million grams to 19.25 million grams, with total gold under management around 141.7 tonnes. Airlangga even noted that the volume of gold Pegadaian manages is currently larger than the reserves managed by Bank Indonesia. ‘So the volume of Pegadaian’s gold management is higher than Bank Indonesia’s reserves. So please proceed with the acquisition, Ms Destry,’ he said.

Growth of Bank Syariah Indonesia: On the other hand, Bank Syariah Indonesia also recorded strong growth in its gold services. To date, the number of customers for gold custody has reached 766,000 people with a total gold under management around 22.5 tonnes. Airlangga assessed that the high public interest in gold is linked to gold’s character as a safe haven investment, especially amid global uncertainty. ‘We understand that gold is a safe haven investment, especially in facing uncertainty, including during times of war. So this becomes one of investment alternatives,’ he said.