Javadyan: Dram devaluation due to global and regional developments

The recent devaluation of the Armenian national currency – the dram is due to global, regional and domestic developments, Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) Arthur Javadyan said at a press conference today.

According to him, the country implements a rational macroeconomic policy, while indices of inflation, state budget deficit, external reserves, foreign debt, and the banking system are at a stable and controllable level.  

National currencies depreciate in developed and developing countries, CBA chairman said. In his words, the main developing countries suffered an economic downturn and currency devaluations in the past year, and the impact of all those processes on CIS countries increased because of regional political problems and the oil price slump.

“These factors lead to a sharp decline of the Russian economy and ruble devaluation, as a result of which the pressure on CIS countries grew through a decline in remittances and dollar inflows from exports, Javadyan said noting that Armenia has also been affected. According to him, due to external pressure, business entities in Armenia started to exchange their currency and credit resources into foreign currency to get extra profits in drams.

Javadyan stressed that CBA already warned that such actions are related to high risks which cannot be exactly assessed by non-experts. “We advise to refrain from such exchanges and wait until the situation stabilizes,” he noted.