Jakarta. Indonesia is seeing a sharp rise in public interest in gold investment, pushing demand beyond available supply, Chief Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto said on Tuesday.

Airlangga said the imbalance has become more pronounced as domestic inflation edges higher. Indonesia’s annual inflation reached 2.86 percent in October 2025, up from the same month a year earlier, with gold purchases emerging as one of the key contributors to price gains.

“When we look at the inflation rate, gold purchases are among the components that are rising,” Airlangga said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

A sharp rise in gold prices has triggered a buying frenzy in Indonesia, leading to a shortage of gold bars produced by state-owned miner Aneka Tambang (Antam).  Antam has imported about 30 tons of gold from Singapore and Australia this year to meet surging domestic demand.

“This shows something relatively positive, that people are increasingly seeking quality assets,” Airlangga said.

Antam’s gold bar prices have fallen since hitting a record high last month, but good luck finding them. Prices rebounded on Tuesday, rising Rp 8,000 to Rp 2,286,000 ($136.64) per gram after a two-day slide. Antam’s gold price reached a record Rp 2.4 million per gram on Oct. 16.

According to Airlangga, part of the supply squeeze stems from halted operations at mining giant Freeport Indonesia following a mudslide at its Grasberg mine in Papua on Sept. 8 that left seven dead. Copper and gold production at Freeport Indonesia’s Grasberg Block Cave mine is expected to resume by mid-2026, Mimika Regent Johannes Rettob said earlier.

“This is one of the factors behind the all-time-high gold price because supply and demand are not balanced,” Airlangga said.

Global market trends are also supporting price gains. World Gold Council data shows global gold demand rose 3 percent year-on-year to 1,313 metric tons in the third quarter of 2025, the highest quarterly demand ever recorded.

Spot gold prices have climbed about 50 percent this year, hitting a record US$4,381 per troy ounce on Oct. 20, driven by safe-haven appetite amid geopolitical tensions, central banks accumulating bullion, uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, and a wave of investor buying due to fear of missing out.