Pegadaian Boss Explains Impact Of Golden Price Surge: Many Sell Compared To Pawns

JAKARTA - President Director of PT Pegadaian, Damar Latri Setiawan, explained the impact of the surge in gold prices on the company's performance.

He said, when prices soared high, people sold more gold than pawning gold.

Based on Pegadaian records, since early 2024 the price of gold has continued to increase. Even now, the increase has reached 16.9 percent.

"The price of gold goes up but our turnover can go down, like in the 2020s. Why? People don't want to sell, they want to sell, because the price of gold is high," he said at a press conference at The Gade Tower, Jakarta, Tuesday, July 30.

Furthermore, Damar said that when the price of gold rose, Pegadaian had to mitigate the risk. Because, at any time the price of gold fell again.

"There is a bit of satire, yes Pegadaian goes up, the gold goes up. We can't do that, if we keep following, one day the price of gold goes down we can be at risk. So we mitigate it by going up," he said.

Damar also explained that for customers who continue to apply for loans by pawning gold in the midst of a price spike, the proposed value will not be maximized.

"For example, 1 gram of gold, the price is Rp. 1.4 million. Not necessarily they are all Rp. 1.4 million. If you need Rp. 1 million, Rp. 1 million, even though the price of gold is high, it doesn't really matter," he said.

Even so, Damar said, the increase in gold prices would still contribute to the company's financial performance.

However, he said, the percentage was only 5 to 7 percent.

"Our estimate is that the contribution of 5 to 7 percent of this gold price encourages Pegadaian performance. Because up 16 percent Mrs. Elvi doesn't want to keep up with the gold price anymore, it's very high. Don't be high and then suddenly go down, that's another risk," he said.