Gold Prices in Bangladesh Jump Again as BAJUS Tracks a Record Global Rally

Bangladesh's jewellers raised gold prices for the second time in just over a week on Saturday, September 19, lifting the country's top grade 22 carat rate by Tk1,691 a bhori to Tk234,621, according to the Bangladesh Jewellers Association, known locally as BAJUS. The new rates took effect from 10 a.m. that day, and they mean a single bhori, the 11.664 gram unit used across South Asian gold markets, now costs more than a quarter of a mid range motorcycle in Dhaka.

The association pointed to the same driver it has cited all year: the price of tejabi gold, or pure refined bullion, had climbed in the local market, and BAJUS said it was adjusting its own rates after weighing the overall market situation. In practice that means Bangladesh's jewellers are simply passing through a rally that has been building in the international gold market for months, one that has left even seasoned traders struggling to keep up.

A Second Jump in a Week

This was not an isolated move. BAJUS had already raised 22 carat gold by Tk1,050 a bhori on September 12, taking it to Tk232,930. Put together, the two adjustments have added roughly Tk2,741 to the price of a bhori of top grade gold in just eight days, a pace of increase that would have been considered extraordinary a few years ago but has become almost routine in 2026. The 21 carat rate now stands at Tk224,065 a bhori and 18 carat at Tk192,397, while gold made using the older traditional refining method, still common for older jewellery and some rural markets, is priced at Tk157,172. Silver moved as well, with the 22 carat rate rising by Tk116 to Tk5,132 a bhori.

What makes 2026 unusual is not just the direction of the moves but their sheer frequency. BAJUS has adjusted its gold rates 116 separate times so far this year, splitting almost evenly between 58 increases and 57 decreases. That kind of churn means Bangladeshi buyers, particularly families planning weddings who often purchase gold jewellery months in advance, are effectively trying to time a market that shifts several times a month, sometimes with only days between moves.

What Buyers Actually Pay

The posted BAJUS rate is only the starting point at the shop counter. Bangladesh charges a 5 percent value added tax on gold jewellery purchases, and jewellers additionally apply a minimum making charge of Tk3,500 a bhori for labour and craftsmanship, on top of whatever premium an individual shop chooses to add for design or brand. Industry associations have periodically noted that this combination means the price a customer actually pays at checkout can run well above the headline rate BAJUS publishes each morning, a gap that widens further at jewellery chains that charge premium making costs for intricate designs.

Grade	Rate before Sept 12	Rate from Sept 12	Rate from Sept 19
22 carat (per bhori)	Tk231,880 (approx.)	Tk232,930	Tk234,621
21 carat (per bhori)	Tk221,441 (approx.)	Tk222,491	Tk224,065
18 carat (per bhori)	Tk189,997 (approx.)	Tk191,056	Tk192,397
Silver, 22 carat (per bhori)	Tk5,016 (approx.)	Tk5,016	Tk5,132

The Global Backdrop

Bangladesh imports the vast majority of the bullion its jewellers work with, so local prices move almost in lockstep with the international market, adjusted for the taka's exchange rate against the dollar. And the international market has had an extraordinary year. Gold was trading at roughly $4,373 an ounce on September 17, up more than 2.5 percent in a single 24 hour period, according to pricing data compiled by Forbes Advisor. That is still short of the all time high of $5,597.23 an ounce reached on January 29, 2026, but it sits comfortably above the $4,000 level that JPMorgan's commodities team had projected as a mid year target, a forecast the market blew past months ago.

Analysts point to a familiar cluster of forces behind the rally: inflation that has stayed stubbornly above the 2 percent target most major central banks aim for, a dollar that has softened against a basket of currencies, and a rising United States debt to GDP ratio that has revived old worries about the currency's long run value. The most structural driver, though, may be the steady accumulation of gold by central banks themselves, many of which have been diversifying reserves away from US Treasury bonds and into bullion. Bangladesh Bank has not disclosed major recent gold purchases of its own, but the buying by larger central banks elsewhere has been enough to keep upward pressure on prices that eventually filters down to a jewellery shop in Dhaka's Tanti Bazar.

A Volatile Year for Bangladeshi Buyers

For ordinary consumers, the practical effect of 116 rate changes in under nine months is that gold has effectively stopped behaving like a stable store of value at the retail level and started behaving more like a fast moving commodity. Families saving toward a wedding, a common driver of gold demand in Bangladesh, face the choice of buying early and risking a subsequent price drop, or waiting and risking exactly the kind of back to back increases the market has just delivered. Jewellers themselves face a parallel problem, needing to reprice inventory and manage margins in a market where the wholesale cost of their raw material can shift meaningfully within the same week.

BAJUS has not signalled any expectation that the volatility will ease soon, and with international gold still trading close to record territory and central banks showing no sign of slowing their purchases, most market watchers expect Bangladesh's own rate changes to keep coming at a similar clip through the rest of the year.