Abu Dhabi hotel, Emirates Palace, has unveiled the world's first gold bar vending machine.

The Gold To Go machine, which is covered in 24-carat gold, dispenses one, five and 10 gram bars as well as one ounce bars of gold, the National reported on Thursday.

Six gold coins of varied weights and engraved with symbols of gold-producing nations Canada, Australia and South Africa, are also dispensed by the machine.

About AED 175 will buy a one gram bar, AED 760 a five gram bar and AED 4645 an ounce, the paper reported.

"It brings gold to the public," Thomas Geissler, the chief executive of Ex Oriente Lux AG, told the paper. "It demystifies it."

He said the German-made vending machine is the first of its kind in the world.

Gold To Go is protected by a range of security measures, including anti-money laundering software.

It also tracks the gold price on fluctuating markets with an inbuilt website that transmits the information every 10 seconds, updating prices every 10 minutes.