April 3, 2009 - 22:55 AMT
CBA precludes the possibility of national currency devaluation
Within last 7-8 years CBA exercised no control over movement of national currency exchange rate, CBA Chairman Arthur Javadyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, without explaining CBA's previous decision on cessation of control over the foreign currency market and return to floating rate policy.


According to him, CBA will apply control only in case of extreme emergency on foreign currency market.


When questioned about a possibility of a second phase of dram devaluation, the Chairman expressed his surprise, responding "Did we implement dram devaluation? All we had in mind is establishing of AMD360-380 against $1 corridor to enable dollar exchange rate fluctuation within the range specified. It was just assessment of CBA and international structures' (IMF, WB) experts, which doesn't mean it will by all means justify itself," he said.



Javadyan's position contradicts the statement of RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan who not only characterized CBA's return to floating rate policy, followed by dram plummeting as devaluation, but also noted, ''CBA established a corridor for dollar exchange rate to fluctuate within. This clears up a matter for all market participants, allows to avoid excessive agiotage and makes the market predictable.''