DUBAI // The World Gold Council and Damas Jewellery will soon unveil a line of gold jewellery in the UAE tailored for regional tastes as part of a US$4 million (Dh14.6m) campaign to stimulate sales in the Middle East. The jewellery, to be launched before March 15, is aimed at encouraging regional shoppers to buy gold based on design. It is an attempt to counter the negative effects of the fluctuating gold price, said Anan Fakhreddin, the managing director of the World Gold Council for the Middle East and Turkey.
To fund the campaign, the council has used investments from its partners, Damas Jewellery in the UAE and Taiba in Saudi Arabia, Mr Fakhreddin said. Although Damas, based in Dubai, has been struggling after a series of unauthorised transactions and non-performing loans that nearly put it out of business, it has made a "decent" investment in the new line, he said. Mr Fakhreddin said the council also planned to launch two gold investment vehicles in the UAE and Saudi Arabia this year.
While it was still in the early stages, one option was to have users deposit cash into an account that would be accumulated in physical gold, he said. Investment demand in the region is a fraction of the total gold market and has yet to reach its potential, Mr Fakhreddin said. aligaya@thenational.ae
