New Delhi – RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Friday said perhaps gold price is acting as a new barometer reflecting global uncertainties as the crude oil used to be in the recent past.

While mentioning that fiscally almost every country today is“quite stressed”, Malhotra also said current trade policy environment could damage growth in some of the economies and cautioned that globally, stock markets might see a correction.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), while leaving the key interest rate unchanged at 5.5 per cent with a neutral monetary policy stance on Wednesday, said the global economy has been more resilient than anticipated but outlook remains clouded.

“Despite geopolitical tensions that would have sent oil prices soaring in an earlier decade, they (oil prices) have been very range bound. This could be due to a decline in oil intensity in GDP, not just in India, but across the world.

“Perhaps gold prices now are showing the kind of movement that oil used to that is acting as a barometer of global uncertainty,” the RBI Governor said at the Kautilya Economic Conclave 2025.

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