Russians bought an all-time record number of gold bars last year, finance ministry data showed on Friday, as tax cuts on precious metals encouraged people to stock up on bullion as a safe asset.
Moscow scrapped its 20 percent value-added tax on physical gold trades for individuals in March last year in a bid to draw people away from using the US dollar as a safe haven.
It also exempted people from paying income tax on profits gained from selling gold bars, further boosting demand for the metal.
Photo: Reuters
Russians bought more than 50 tonnes of gold bars last year, 10 times more than the year before, Russian Ministry of Finance data showed.
The most sought after were 1kg bars, which accounted for about 60 percent of those sold.
The figures are not yet final and only cover the period ending in November, the ministry said.
State-controlled VTB Bank said that it sold 33.8 tonnes of gold bars to customers last year, with clients holding 50 billion rubles (US$707.76 million) worth of the metal.
“Gold was a good protective financial solution last year,” VTB investment products sales deputy head Yevgeny Beresnev said. “Customers shifted funds into this instrument in order to diversify their assets and make a profit when long-term planning.”
Gold for April delivery fell US$54.20 to US$1,876.60 an ounce, down 2.74 percent from the previous week.
In other commodities:
‧ Silver for March delivery fell US$1.21 to US$22.41 an ounce, dropping 5.12 percent for the week.
‧ March copper fell US$0.03 to US$4.06 a pound, down 3.79 percent weekly.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with AP
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day