Where is gold cheapest in the Gulf?
The raw gold price is practically the same in the six Gulf countries once converted to dollars, because four of their currencies are pegged to the dollar at a fixed rate and the Kuwaiti dinar and Qatari riyal stay close to it. Two things make the difference on the final price of a piece: VAT and the making charge. VAT is known: zero in Kuwait and Qatar as of our last review, 5% in the UAE, 5% in Oman, 10% in Bahrain and 15% in Saudi Arabia, charged on gold and making together. The making charge varies more between shops in one country than between countries. The calculator therefore applies one making percentage everywhere, so VAT alone shows, and ranks the countries from cheapest to dearest in dollars. Change weight, karat and making rate to see how much you would really save by buying elsewhere, before counting the cost of the trip. It answers a question expats moving around the Gulf ask all the time.
Cheapest country for this piece, VAT included
Kuwait
KWD 784
| Kuwait · 0% | KWD 784 · USD 2,518 |
| Qatar · 0% | QAR 9,167 · USD 2,518 |
| Oman · 5% | OMR 1,017 · USD 2,644 |
| UAE · 5% | AED 9,712 · USD 2,644 |
| Bahrain · 10% | BHD 1,042 · USD 2,770 |
| Saudi Arabia · 15% | SAR 10,861 · USD 2,896 |
Checked by Radif Partners · How we calculate · Editorial policy
Why one making rate
Giving each country its own making charge would mean inventing a figure: there is no official average making charge for any country. One rate keeps the comparison fair: if the shop in Kuwait charges the same making as one in Dammam, the gap is the VAT. If you know the actual making charge in each shop, price each offer separately in the jewellery price calculator.
VAT rates from their sources
The rates come from the texts themselves: the Saudi VAT Law at 15%, UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 at 5%, Bahrain’s National Bureau for Revenue at 10% and the Omani VAT Law at 5%. Kuwait and Qatar had no VAT as of our review.
The dollar column
Each line gives the price in local currency and then in dollars. The conversion uses the peg in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Oman, and today’s rate or the fallback from the UAE central bank table in Kuwait and Qatar. The ranking follows the dollar column, so lines in different currencies compare without any arithmetic.