CCP: 90% of Pakistan’s gold trade is off the books
“A CCP review finds nearly 90% of Pakistan’s gold trade occurs informally, driven by weak oversight and opaque pricing.”
Key points
- A CCP review finds nearly 90% of Pakistan’s gold trade occurs informally, driven by weak oversight and opaque pricing.
- It proposes a unified regulator, hallmarking mandates and digital traceability to curb illicit flows and protect consumers.
Pakistan’s gold market is largely undocumented, with nearly 90% of trading taking place outside formal channels, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) said in a new study. The review cites weak documentation, fragmented oversight and opaque pricing dominated by trader associations as key distortions.
The CCP recommends establishing a unified Pakistan Gold and Gemstone Authority to harmonise licensing, imports and compliance with AML/CFT standards. It also urges nationwide hallmarking and assaying to protect consumers, alongside digital traceability tied to the tax authority’s systems and a “Gold Banking System” to channel household holdings into formal finance.
The report points to limited refining capacity, high compliance costs that incentivise smuggling, and scarce reliable data on imports and sales. It adds that the Reko Diq copper-gold project could reshape domestic supply chains over its multi-decade life if governance and transparency improve.
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