July 15, 2009
In recent news, we have been informed that it is now legal for citizens of South Africa to be able to own a gold bar. Is this something that will help or hurt other businesses in the area? It appears that if you are one that would like to sell gold that this is perfect for you. On the other hand, for those that wish to buy gold, could this present an issue. Since the demand will be increased will this also mean that the price will go up?
Some folks are not really aware of the connection between law and commerce. It is funny that people do not always see just how the two are linked because laws are made all the time that either help or harm businesses in ways no one could have predicted. Some news outlets recently reported that it is now legal for citizens of South Africa to own gold bars. If you want to sell gold, this is good news for you because conditions that increase the demand for gold are good if you want to sell gold. When people want gold, gold buyers want to be able to sell it to them, but an increased demand can put a strain on their resources.
While you will probably not be able to sell gold directly to anyone in South Africa, you can sell gold to an online gold buyer. And really, it is easier that way, because you don’t have to be bothered with international law or trying to transport gold across the globe. Just contact an online gold buyer and they will send you a postage-paid envelope so you can send in your gold.
The first signs that the restrictions on gold ownership were being eased came in 2005 when the South African parliament decided to allow minted god bars to be manufactured. That was four years ago and now the government has clearly stated that South Africans are permitted to own gold bars.
South Africans were last allowed to own gold bars since 1911, so it has been a long time since the average person was allowed to have a bar of gold of their very own. The government first clamped down on individual ownership of unwrought gold and gold bars in 1908, but this law was not put on the books until 1911. Just in case anyone had forgotten, South Africa’s Mining Rights Act of 1967 reiterated the fact that citizens of that country were not allowed to own gold if it was unwrought or in a gold bar. Having gold in this form became a criminal offense after the Mining Rights Act was passed.
This is not to say, however that Sough Africans were not allowed to own any gold at all– quite the contrary, actually. Citizens of South African were allowed to own gold jewelry and gold coins. And we doubt that there were any limits placed on just how much gold jewelry or gold coins a person could own.