Demand for gold jewellery fell by 24 percent in the United Arab Emirates year-on-year in the second quarter of the year, according to a report by the World Gold Council (WGC), mainly due to the introduction of a new 5 percent value-added tax (VAT) in January that was applied to a variety of goods and services, including gold jewellery.

“VAT in both UAE and Saudi Arabia has played an important part in the softness this year,” Alistair Hewitt, United Kingdom-based director of market intelligence in the WGC told Zawya in an email interview last Monday. The World Gold Council (WGC) said in its Q2 2018 report that gold demand fell by 10 percent year-on-year in Saudi Arabia, where VAT was also introduced in January.

UAE gold jewelry demand fell by 23 percent in the first quarter year-one year, while demand rose 16 percent in the fourth quarter of last year ahead of the introduction of VAT, according to previous reports published by the WGC.