Kathmandu, April 15
Owing to the restriction imposed on the import of luxury items, the Nepali market has run out of its raw gold stock.
It means people cannot order customised jewellery. Yet, they can buy readymade ornaments as long as they are in stock. Likewise, they can assign jewellers to mould their old ornaments into new ones.
Dharma Sundar Bajracharya, the general secretary of the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association, says, “If you want something on your own demand, you have to bring gold on your own.”
“It has been 11 days since we last imported gold,” an official of Nepal Bankers’ Association, a group of commercial bank officials, says, “Until last Friday, we had 16 kg in the raw gold stock. But, it’s over by now.”
In Nepal, only commercial banks are authorised to import the precious metal in bulk, which they sell to the jewellers.
It is noted that this is one of the key wedding seasons in Nepal when the demand for gold ornaments is very high.
