The All Ceylon Jewelery Association states that there is a severe shortage of gold in the local market due to the severe restrictions on the import of gold.
The President of the All Ceylon Jewelery Association Mr. Wijaya Kumar said that the shortage of gold has caused great inconvenience to gold jewelers and thousands are at risk of losing their jobs.
He also said that orders for gold jewelery have been stopped as there is no gold to produce new jewelery.
He said that the import of gold had been severely restricted for the past 4-5 years and that the limit was still in place.
Although the 15% customs duty on gold has been reduced to 5% recently, the jewelery industry has not been able to take advantage of the non-importation of gold, he said.
The value of a pound of gold in the market has now risen to around 124,000, he said.
