Ernest Schie

(Reuters) - Billionaire investor John Paulson said in an interview that by 2028, central bank gold purchases and global trade tensions could raise gold bar prices to nearly $5,000 in 2028.

Price forecasts are one of the most optimistic prices to date, as banks and others raised their estimates after earning record heights last week just over $3,500. Deutsche Bank expects platinum and silver to sell for $3,700 per ounce next year.

Paulson, already the largest shareholder in Idaho Gold and antimony developer Perpetua Resources, bought a 40% stake in Novagold's Alaska Donlin Gold Project from Barrick last week.

Asked where he expected the price of gold bars to pay, Paulson cited the recently proposed estimates to him, with levels raised in three years at the "high $4,000 range".

"It's a wise prediction. I think it's a reasonable number," Paulson said.

He added: “With central banks and people looking to put money into a more stable source…I think gold will improve its position in the world.”

The New York-based investor cited the confiscation of Russian diplomatic reserves by the West after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine as a catalyst for the world's central bank, especially China, that it piled into gold.

"At the beginning of the war, (Russia) retained their physical gold, which was safe, but all their cash - the reserve of paper - was confiscated."

"This has caused other central banks to wake up and say …'What happens if there is a conflict with the United States?

He added that he believes global trade uncertainty is driven to some extent by Washington’s tariffs, which is a further basis.

"If you have less faith in the (US) dollar, the best place to go is gold as a reserve currency," Paulson said.

Paulson declined to discuss details of the conversation with Trump, but said the president “was very professional in the U.S. and the U.S. golden age and brought manufacturing and mining back to the U.S..”

Landmines

Paulson, who has long invested in gold, said he has no interest in expanding to copper or other metals. “Other minerals are a completely different world, so we focus our energy on gold,” he said.

In Idaho, Paulson is the largest shareholder of Perpetua, who received a federal mining license in January, is applying for U.S. export funds from foreign banks and has received support from Trump's White House.