The recent escalation in gold prices has not affected the consumer’s demand for gold in the Middle East; in fact the markets recorded an increase in demand by 13% to 93.2 tonnes during the third quarter of 2007, according to The World Gold Council (WGC). For this third quarter The retail sales scaled up by 21% to Dh2.5 billion, as compared to the same period last year from Dh2 billion last year. Demand for jewellery recorded an increase of 14%, and net retail investment hiked by 5%, during the said period.