The international gold rate says 4,600 dollars. The Pakistan gold rate says 513,000 rupees. Same metal, different unit, different currency, and one extra cost layer nobody puts on the chart.
Why is gold more expensive in Pakistan than the international rate?
Gold in Pakistan trades above the converted international price because Pakistan imports nearly all of it. Freight, insurance, assay, handling, import duty and levies attach before a dealer touches the metal; dollar scarcity pushes importers off the interbank rate; local demand and dealer margin sit on top.
On 25 August 2026 that premium was about PKR 31,000 per tola, or 6.4%.
International gold rate vs Pakistan gold rate
The two numbers are not comparable as written. A troy ounce is 31.1035 grams; a tola is 11.6638 grams, a South Asian unit roughly a third of a troy ounce.
| International rate | Pakistan rate | |
|---|---|---|
| Unit quoted | USD per troy ounce (31.1035 g) | PKR per tola (11.6638 g) |
| Headline, 25 Aug 2026 | USD 4,639.91 per troy ounce | PKR 513,920 per tola |
| Same figure per gram | PKR 41,397 | PKR 44,062 |
| Same figure per tola | PKR 482,847 (converted) | PKR 513,920 |
| Implied USD per troy ounce | USD 4,639.91 | USD 4,938.60 |
| Who publishes it | COMEX, London Bullion Market Association | All Pakistan Sarafa Gems and Jewellers Association |
| How often | Continuously, while markets trade | Typically twice a day |
The per-gram figures are the honest comparison, because they strip the unit difference out entirely.
How to convert the international gold rate to PKR per tola
Four steps, in order:
- Start with the international spot price — USD per troy ounce.
- Divide by 31.1035 to get USD per gram.
- Multiply by the USD/PKR exchange rate to get PKR per gram.
- Multiply by 11.6638 to get PKR per tola.
That produces the converted international price, not the price you pay in Pakistan. The local premium comes after.
Worked example, 25 August 2026
Both inputs move, so both are dated. Spot price: USD 4,639.91 per troy ounce (Trading Economics, 25 August 2026). USD/PKR: approximately 277.5 interbank — interbank closed at PKR 277.60 on 19 August 2026 (Mettis Global), and mid-market quotes sat around 277.5 through the week to 25 August 2026.
| Step | Working | Result |
|---|---|---|
| USD per gram | 4,639.91 ÷ 31.1035 | USD 149.18 |
| PKR per gram | 149.18 × 277.5 | PKR 41,397 |
| PKR per tola | 41,397 × 11.6638 | PKR 482,847 |
| Actual local 24K rate | Announced 4:04pm PKT | PKR 513,920 |
| Gap | 513,920 − 482,847 | PKR 31,073 (6.4%) |
Who publishes Pakistan’s gold rate
Pakistan’s benchmark is not set by a bank or a regulator. The All Pakistan Sarafa Gems and Jewellers Association, a Karachi-based trade body, announces it — typically twice a day — and every sarafa market in the country follows. The daily national rate carries 24K, 22K, 21K and 18K figures per tola, with a calculator for any weight.
The Association’s inputs are international spot, USD/PKR and local market conditions. That last item is not a rounding error: it is the deliberate premium separating PKR 482,847 from PKR 513,920.
What the premium is made of
Five layers, and they stack.
Pakistan imports its gold
There is almost no domestic production of scale. Every tola entering the formal market arrives with freight, insurance, assay and handling costs already attached.
Import duty and taxes
Formal gold imports carry duty and levies, and this is a well-documented driver of the gap. It works in a direction people do not expect: higher duty widens the domestic premium, which raises the incentive for gold to arrive unofficially. Historically in Pakistan, duty increases have been followed by higher unofficial inflows, and duty reductions by sharp declines in them.
Dollar availability
The conversion assumes dollars at the interbank rate. Importers often cannot get them, and the open market trades above interbank, so the premium absorbs the difference. Crackdowns on currency smuggling have visibly moved the local rate: when the rupee strengthened after one such crackdown, the local tola price fell several percent within days with no change in the international rate at all.
Local demand
The premium is not constant. It widens through wedding season, roughly October to March, when demand for the same limited supply rises, and narrows when demand is thin.
Dealer margin and making charges
The Sarafa rate is a bullion benchmark. A finished piece of jewellery adds making charges on top, varying by design and by shop. Compare a jewellery quote to the international rate and you are looking at two additions, not one.
What to do with the international gold rate
Use the conversion chain as a sanity check, not a price. If Pakistan’s rate sits a few percent above the converted figure, that is the normal cost of importing gold. Far above, with no obvious cause, is worth a question at the counter.
If the size of the number is the barrier rather than the maths, gold bought in instalments locks the rate at the start instead of asking for a full tola on one day. The gold mandi still moves; your instalment does not.
All prices here are dated 25 August 2026. Gold and the rupee both move daily — check today’s rate before acting on any figure on this page.
