By Rima Sweisi
The gold market in Gaza, known as “Caesarea,” is devoid of shoppers except of the few who came to sell a piece of gold to use the money to pay for something more urgent that would help them through these difficult times.
“The situation in Gaza is bad,” said Abu Khatab Daghmash, director-general of the gold traders that is part of Justice Ministry. “Gold is a luxury, not a necessity,” he said, attributing the deterioration in the gold market to mainly inability of Arabs in Israel to enter Gaza as was the case in the past, which resulted in a 50% decline in the gold business.
In addition, he said, newlyweds are unable these days to buy a large quantity of gold as dowry to their brides. He said that when a man used to give his bride between 200 to 300 grams of gold as dowry, now he can afford only between 50 and 60 grams in the best case scenario.
Daghmash explained that the damage to the gold market activity as a result of the previous factors has reached 90% and the least loss for a gold trader in the last five years has reached 70%.
“This is why the central gold market in Gaza looks like a soccer field empty of crowds,” he said.
“Most people are selling their gold, not buying, which led to a stockpile of gold in the market. Some traders leave the Gaza Strip to the West Bank twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays at the rate of seven people each time to sell their gold stocks and get liquidity in return to bring it into Gaza. If it wasn’t for this, things would have completely deteriorated.”
Daghmash said that the price of gold is now 26 Jordanian dinars (app. $36) per gram. However, it sells at a much higher price in the West Bank where demand is more than in Gaza. He said 28 kilograms of gold leave Gaza every week to the West Bank.
“As Justice Ministry, we are not responsible for compensating anyone in case a certain style of gold ornament became outdated, which prompts the trader to crush his stock and remodel it, which causes him loss in craftsmanship tax,” he said.
Umm Ahmad, 38, who came to the gold market to sell a gold bracelet to pay for her daughter’s university tuition, said that she was forced to sell it because of their bad financial situation since her husband is currently unemployed.
“The economic situation is very bad. There are no customers and no sales. Whoever had gold pieces, they sold them to be able to eat and drink. The market does not move at this time except when there are brides or for those who want to sell. But as for buying, it is rare and turnout is low because of low income lately,” said Mohammed Abu Saimeh, 57, a goldsmith.
“We have a large stock of gold because of lack in sales and demand. Therefore we have to sell it in the West Bank market because it goes there at a higher price. The variation in the cost of a kilogram of gold between Gaza and the West Bank is $1,000.”
He added: “We as gold traders are spending from the savings and profit margin we made in the past. Now, there is no selling or buying. Unfortunately, the situation is now at its worst because there is a systematic policy against the Gaza economy as a result of the Israeli blockade.”
(WAFA)
