The Price Continues To Skyrocket, Gold Is Still A Save Haven For The Majority Of The Community

Workers show gold sold in the Gold Boutique of Mulia Metal, PT Aneka Tambang (ANTAM), Jakarta, Thursday (7/11/2024). (ANTARA/Muhammad Iqbal/Spt)

JAKARTA The rising gold price makes gold a favorite investment instrument. For many people, gold is a safe haven because these assets have value that is in line with inflation for a long period of time.

The price of Antam's precious metal broke the record high, reaching 1.567 million per gram on October 31, 2024. Despite the decline, the price of gold in Antam's Boutique as of Thursday (21/11) was at IDR 1,508,000. This price rose IDR 10,000 compared to the previous day.

The assumption that gold as an investment instrument is actually still the pros and cons. For some people, gold deserves to be used as an investment because the price tends to increase from year to year.

But some others do not include gold as an investment product, but rather savings. Instead of being an investment, gold is considered a savings to fight inflation.

However, despite these assumptions, in fact gold is still a favorite of many people for investment. This was shown from a survey conducted by the Katadata Insight Center (KIC) at the end of 2021. With 5,204 respondents, this survey investigated respondents' interest in investment. As a result, most of the gold was chosen, namely 58.5 percent of respondents.

Other surveys also showed the same thing. In the same year, Jakpat showed gold as the most-owned investment instrument (46 percent), ahead of mutual funds (32 percent) and bank deposits (30 percent).

From the survey, it can be seen how dominant gold is as an investment instrument of choice for the community. In addition, in today's era, the digital gold trading market is also getting bigger so that it has a positive impact because it makes it easier for people to 'contain' gold.

Based on a summary of the Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Agency (CoFTRA), during January 2024 - September 2024, the value of digital physical gold transactions reached IDR 41.3 trillion. The increase reached 1,181 percent compared to the same period in 2023, amounting to IDR 3.22 trillion.

Economist from the Center of Economic and Law Studies Nailul Huda said gold is still a favorite of many people because apart from the price that tends to continue to increase, gold also has minimal risks.

"Gold will still be aave heaven for investment, especially for investoristic avoidance or investors who avoid risks," Huda told VOI.

"The annual price of gold has increased quite rapidly. The increase could be 10-20 percent per year. The figure is quite large compared to other instruments such as stocks or bonds," he added.

Huda added that every day, people will also choose gold investments that provide security on prices. Many people buy gold as an 'insurement' against bad or detrimental economic events.

Another thing that makes the Indonesian people still have gold as an investment instrument because it is not only easier to disburse, literacy related to investment other than gold is still considered low, as stated by researcher from the Center of Macroeconomics and Finance Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) Abdul Manap Pulungan.

Actually, apart from gold, there are other options in stocks or state securities (SBN). But if we talk about literacy again and some people don't understand. If the SBN is good enough, 6-7 percent, it just can't be disbursed when it needs money," he said.

Throughout 2024, the increase in gold prices reached 27 percent. This is the biggest annual increase since 2010. Gold investment is considered safer than risky assets such as stocks and bonds.

The soaring price of gold in the past year or so has been influenced by several things. Among them are geopolitical factors influenced by the political situation and tensions in the Middle East and Europe that have occurred, such as the endless war between Israel and Hamas.

In addition, high political tension in the United States (US) related to the presidential election also affects the price of gold. The results of the US Presidential Election will greatly affect global political and economic conditions.

Some observers agree that whoever the elected US President will greatly affect the future global economic conditions, including the development of gold prices.

"However, there are challenges in the form of an increase in the industrial sector which encourages stock prices. When stock prices rise, usually gold prices will fall or stagnately," explained Huda.

Trump's alignment with the industrial sector could lead to a decline in the price of gold when he won as US President. But that's just potential," he concluded.

Citing CNN, based on a quick calculation of The New York Times, Trump earned 70,700,924 popular votes, while his opponent from the Democratic Party, Kamala Harris, won 65,846,569 votes.

From electoral votes, Trump won 277 votes out of a total of 538 electoral votes, while Harris won 224 electoral votes. In the US presidential election system, the presidential candidate who won 270 or more electoral votes came out victorious. With this system, a presidential candidate can win the presidential election despite losing popular votes (popular votes).