The price of gold made a short-term correction today - 1 gram of 24-carat gold at around 127 euros, and a troy ounce at around 3,950 euros. That's a „drop" after several weeks of steady growth. Which is why the word is „correction", not crash. The small difference in vocabulary means a lot: the market isn't falling, it's resting.

Analysts describe the current phase as a „natural correction" - investors are locking in profits, the dollar is stabilising, and buyers have a moment to recalculate the next move. This isn't a downward trend. This is, put bluntly, a quick gulp of air before the next surge.

Why is gold rising? Geopolitical uncertainty, inflation in developed economies, and - perhaps most importantly - central banks are actively increasing their gold reserves. When China, India, Turkey and Poland buy tonnes of gold a year, that's not a signal of a stable market - it's a signal that they expect trouble. And every investor paying attention has noticed.

In the Balkans, interest in investment gold is growing. Local precious-metal dealers report higher demand for gold in coin form and smaller bars. „Better to have gold in your hand than a deposit in a bank in Skopje" - that's folk wisdom, and the wisdom isn't groundless. After people lost their savings in the old Yugoslav banks between 1992 and 1995, memory sticks around.

A question for the reader: 127 euros a gram. Is that expensive or cheap? Five years ago it was 50 euros. Ten years ago - 35. That means gold has more than doubled in the last decade. It also means the euro has lost purchasing power. Both statements are true. The question is which angle you're looking from.