Nepal precious metals traders say silver shortage is worst

Nepal Government to Resume Import of Gold
From Nepal News, Kathmandu
Monday, December 13, 2010
http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/business-a-economy/11558-govt-to...
With the domestic bullion market reeling under the shortage of gold and silver, the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies has decided to resume the import of gold and silver within a week.
The ministry is holding a meeting with gold traders and dealers to discuss the modalities and other issues before finally allowing the guidelines sent by the Nepal Rastra Bank to be implemented.
The Nepal Rastra Bank had submitted the draft of the guidelines to the ministry, with some changes in the previous provision that allowed commercial banks to import 10 kilograms of gold per day on a rotation basis.
The domestic market faced a shortage of the both metals owing to the delay by the ministry in finalizing the guidelines, though the import ban was lifted by the government some weeks ago.
Currently, the demand for gold in the domestic market stands at 35 kilograms per day and that for silver at 200 kilograms per day.
According to gold traders, the demand for gold was being addressed partially by the gold illegally imported from India. But in the case of silver the situation is the worst, they said.