7,500 gold shops must be registered: Commerce
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Over 7,500 gold shops nationwide will be required to register with the Internal Trade Department, in Thailand's fresh new measure to curb speculative trading.
Deputy Commerce Minister Yanyong Phuangrach said Monday that the registration is endorsed at the meeting between the ministry, Bank of Thailand and Gold Traders Association.
He said that through the registration, the authorities will have better access to the shops' activities, particularly the online and paper-based activities.
Each year, gold transactions are valued no less than Bt1 trillion, which is way above the gold import value of about Bt300 billion, he said.
Yanyong is convinced that through closer monitoring, consumers would be better protected.
The measure is announced after reports that some investors were cheated by some gold shops in their paper-based transaction contracts.
Earlier, there were reports that some parties use gold contracts to speculate on the Thai baht.
Recently, India also took multiple steps this year to curb imports of gold, its second-biggest import after oil, including raising duty three times to 10 percent.India has the world's third-largest current account deficit, which is approaching nearly US$90 billion, driven in a large part by appetite for gold imports in the world's biggest consumer of the metal. That has played a major role in driving the rupee to a record low.
