KARACHI: On Monday, the opening day of the business week, precious metals saw a significant price hike in both international and domestic markets.
In the international bullion market, the price of gold climbed to a new level of $4,202 per ounce.
Reflecting this global surge, local bullion markets in Pakistan experienced a sharp increase in prices.
The price of 24-karat gold per tola rose by Rs. 4,643, reaching Rs. 442,636. Similarly, the price of 10 grams of gold increased by Rs. 4,179 to settle at Rs. 378,345.
Silver followed a similar upward trajectory. Internationally, silver jumped by $1.89, reaching $66.71 per ounce.
In the local market, this drove the price of silver up by Rs. 189 to Rs. 7,151 per tola, while the price for 10 grams of silver rose by Rs. 170 to stand at Rs. 6,079.
A Decade of Skyrocketing Gold Prices in Pakistan
The current record-high gold price reflects an extraordinary decade-long trajectory in Pakistan’s bullion market.
In 2016, a tola of gold cost roughly Rs. 50,000. Over the next ten years, prices experienced an unprecedented exponential surge, driven by a combination of compounding domestic economic challenges and shifting global financial dynamics.
The primary catalyst for this massive domestic spike has been the severe, persistent devaluation of the Pakistani Rupee (PKR) against the US Dollar.
Because gold is traded internationally in USD, any depreciation of the local currency automatically makes importing the metal significantly more expensive, causing local rates to decouple drastically from international averages at times.
Furthermore, soaring domestic inflation, political instability, and economic uncertainty over the past decade routinely prompted local investors to flee liquid currency and seek refuge in gold as a traditional, secure hedge against inflation.
On the global stage, geopolitical tensions, supply chain disruptions, and fluctuating interest rates by major central banks pushed international bullion prices to historic highs, crossing the $4,000 per ounce milestone by 2026۔
For Pakistani consumers, this dual pressure—a weakening domestic currency paired with soaring global commodity rates—completely transformed gold from a traditional wedding staple into an elite, highly speculative luxury asset, reshaping the country’s savings and investment landscape entirely.
