Precious metals consultancy GFMS expects the annual average price of gold to reach a record high this year.
Announcing the release of the GFMS Quarterly Three Year Gold Forecast, consultancy sales director Charles de Meester said this year will see the eighth consecutive rise in the annual average gold price.
De Meester said “quantitative easing in the United States and elsewhere and Chairman Bernanke’s decision to monetise US government debt coupled with ambitious fiscal stimulus programs around the world could well spark inflationary pressures and thereby significantly widen gold’s investment base”.
“Furthermore, with global economic growth set to contract for the first time in the post-war era, the outlook for traditional investments arguably remains very poor, in spite of recent rallies in global stock markets.
“This, plus ongoing strains in the financial system and worries about the health of major banks could well ignite fresh safe haven inflows into the gold market.”
However, De Meester acknowledged that the “behaviour of gold’s supply/demand fundamentals in the first quarter – chiefly plummeting fabrication demand and surging scrap supply – showed that even strong investment flows into the yellow metal cannot necessarily be relied upon to drive prices higher.
“The tension between these forces will continue to be critical to price determination in the months and years ahead,” he said.
For more information visit www.gfms.co.uk
