INFLATION AND POVERTY Croatian citizens sold 646 kilograms of gold in three months

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Croatian citizens sold 646 kilograms of gold for 252 million kuna (33.1 million euros) in the first three months of 2022, writes Večernji list today.

Inflation and the war in Ukraine, as stated, are forcing people of lower financial status to sell family heirlooms, while the wealthier part of the population is buying investment gold.

It was believed that all Croatian "sentimental" gold was sold at the peak of the economic crisis in 2012, when about 6.4 tons of gold worth 179.7 million euros were exported, mainly to Austria and Italy, but this "currency for hard times" is still being traded very well, notes Večernji.

Unofficial figures from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) show that Croatian citizens sold 646 kilograms of non-monetary "scrap" and broken gold, bars, wires, plates, gold powder, and platinum-plated gold in the period January-March alone...

This is only slightly less than in the entire pre-pandemic year of 2019, when almost one ton of gold worth 40 million euros was exported. When fear and uncertainty due to the corona crisis began in 2020, 1.43 tons of gold worth 68 million euros ended up at Croatian collection points of goldsmith houses, while last year the quantity was more than double - 3.42 tons of gold sold worth 85.7 million euros, the newspaper states.