Gold prices up 16% in 2020

THE Chinese idiom yi bo wei ping, yi bo you qi (translated as: before the current problem has been resolved, a new one rears its head) aptly describes my view of 2020 thus far.

The first half of the year was mired in the grips of a global pandemic of a scale not seen since the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. The effects of this viral outbreak have impacted almost every aspect of modern living globally. From the halt of air travel as countries went through systemic lockdowns in a bid to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus to the new normal of wearing face masks and the liberal application of hand sanitisers.

As the second half of the year begins, most countries have reported a slowdown in the spread of the novel coronavirus as the results from the measures have started to show. There is a palpable air of expectation that perhaps the worst is starting to come to an end.