The price of gold will rise to a record of $1,450 a troy ounce in the next year, driven by a loss of faith in central banks’ ability to prop up the global economy, according to a closely-watched annual poll of the precious metals industry.
The prediction was made by bankers, producers and analysts attending the London Bullion Market Association conference in Berlin – the biggest gathering of the gold industry. If correct, it would mean an increase of nearly 11 per cent on Tuesday’s record price of $1,310.10 an ounce, triggering big profits for the world’s largest gold miners, such as Barrick Gold, Newmont Mining and AngloGold Ashanti. The LBMA poll has proven an accurate – even conservative – forecast over the past few years even if the presence of miners and bullion investors skews the poll.
“It’s very hard to be pessimistic [about the gold price] in the short term – at worst you’re neutral,” Kevin Crisp, chairman of the LBMA, told the Financial Times.