AMD demand sharply decreased at Armenian foreign currency market

PanARMENIAN.Net - Bagrat Asatryan, ex-chairman of the RA Central Bank, said that Armenia's AMD monetary base has started reducing since the end of 2008 and this process is still under way.



"The AMD demand has sharply decreased at Armenian foreign currency market, and there are two reasons for it: political - the growing distrust towards the authorities, thus, to the national currency, and money drain," he told a news conference in Yerevan.



Among those countries, to which our "funds outflow", the specialist mentioned Georgia, where favorable business conditions are created.



Besides, Mr. Asatryan said that during the first three months of 2010, the AMD monetary base has decreased by 45 billion. "In 2008, the cash monetary base totaled AMD 344 billion in Armenia, while in 2009 it went down to AMD 320 billion and continued decreasing, totaling AMD 274 billion as of March 25, 2010," he said.



Speaking about remittances, one of the main sources for the monetary base increase, the ex-chairman of the RA Central Bank noted that the volume of remittances decreased by 20% in January 2010, as compared with the same period of 2009.