UTTAR PRADESH-Tactical Retreat

and Saudi Arabia 174 tonnes. Thus India's consumption of gold was almost 50 percent more than that of the US, the second largest consumer In the first half of 1995 the US was replaced by Japan in the second position, though the Japanese economy has been in the throes of one of its worst recessions in recent decades. This is not altogether inexplicable, for Japan has one of the highest saving rates in the world, with gross saving of 34 to 35 per cent of GDP during 1990-93 and around 32 per cent in 1994. Japan's domestic savings exceed investment needs. Households in Japan thus have large accummulated assets and, in the wake of the financial market turbulence and loss of bond and equity values, their asset preference seems to have shifted from financial assets to gold.