According to H1-2008 statistics released by the Dubai Export Development Corporation (DEDC), the Middle East is still a robust market for solid gold purchases from the UAE. Several Middle Eastern are among the top consumers and importers of gold in the world. These included Kuwait, the third largest importer of gold in the world from the UAE next only to India and Switzerland with imports worth USD $ 44.7 million. This was followed by Saudi Arabia (USD $ 28.77 million); Lebanon (USD $ 16.16 million); Turkey (USD $ 14.25 million); Bahrain (USD $ 13.15 million) and Egypt (USD $ 11.8 million).
Experts say that the current financial crisis has driven investors to turn to the precious metal as it is known to be a safe haven for assets. India accounted for a lion’s share of USD $ 2.47 billion (79 %) of the UAE’s global precious metals exports in 2007 alone.