NOW MONEY TRANSFERS FROM RUSSIA TO ARMENIA CAN BE MADE IN NATIONAL CURRENCY
Regnum, Russia
Nov 18 2006
For the first time, it has become possible to transfer money from
Russia to Armenia in the Armenian national currency – dram (AMD),
the chairman of the Council of the Unibank, the president of the
Uniastrum bank (Moscow) Gagik Zakaryan said during a press-conference
in Yerevan Nov 17.
A REGNUM correspondent reports Zakaryan to say that, from now on,
people in Russia will be able to transfer money to Armenia in AMD
via the UNIStream system – with 0% commission. "We are planning to
get profit not from commission but from the conversion of foreign
currency and RUR into AMD," Zakaryan said. He noted that this project
is a novelty for Russia too. It will make it much easier for people
to transfer money, while the recipients will know beforehand how much
they will get in AMD. "We are planning to start transferring money
to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, but this time we will already
charge commission because the money will be transferred to partner
banks who have their own interests," Zakaryan said.
The chairman of the Board of the Unibank Vardan Atayan said that the
system was introduced quite recently and has transferred 6.5mln AMD
($17,500), so far. The system can transfer not only AMD, but also
RUR, USD and some other currencies. According to the forecasts, the
UNIStream system will transfer a total of $400mln-$420mln to Armenia,
including $100mln-$120mln in Nov-Dec.
The president of the Central Bank of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan said that
the introduction of the system of AMD transfers will allow people to
reduce their losses as presently they have to convert their transfers
twice: first, in Russia from RUR into USD and, then, in Armenia from
USD into AMD. The system of AMD transfers will also allow to make
the Armenian economy less dollarized.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
