World Gold Council To Shut UAE Office As Part Of Review

The World Gold Council (WGC) will shut its office in the UAE next week due to a strategic review of their operations, it said on Wednesday.

“We recently carried out a strategic review of our operations and whilst there are significant opportunities in the UAE, we do not currently have the appropriate critical mass there to maximise them, nor can we deploy the necessary resource,” said the statement.

“As such, we have decided to reallocate our resource in the UAE,” it added. The office will close on 31 March.
The WGC took part in promoting the retail sector through the Dubai Shopping Festival and said it would continue to honour such initiatives, the statement said.

Some analysts believed that the UAE government and retailers were not cooperative in giving the WGC enough data for their reports; others site a slowdown in Dubai’s gold business.

“I think they decided to shutdown because they are having problems collecting date from traders and the government,” said Pradeep Unni, senior analyst and trader at Richcomm Global Services in Dubai.

Labelled the city of gold, Dubai’s retail business in recent months has taken a hit as gold prices rose above consumers’ reach, due to unrest in the region.

“Business has been hit so badly here I think the WGC is looking for somewhere a bit more active,” said a Dubai-based gold trader who declined to be named.

On Wednesday, Spot gold hit a session high of $1,440.90, its highest since March 7 when it scored a record peak of $1,444.40 an ounce.

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Posted by WoodlawnPost on Mar 24 2011. Filed under Gold History, Precious Metals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.