APPRECIATION OF US DOLLAR IN ARMENIA IS CONDITIONED BY UPCOMING ARMENIAN ELECTIONS, INDEPENDENT ECONOMIST CLAIMS
Author: Tonoyan Susanna Editor: Eghian Robert

Noyan Tapan
Apr 13 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The appreciation of the US dollar
recently in Armenia is conditioned by the upcoming parliamentary
elections. Independent economist Eduard Aghajanov expressed this
opinion at the April 13 press conference. "Those candidates for
deputacy who intend to become deputies by giving electoral bribes,
have purchased dollars for 350 drams and now are selling dollars at
a high price so that the electoral campaign will be cheap or even
free of charge for them," he said. In response to the question about
how much the dollar’s exchange rate will grow, E. Aghajanov replied:
"It depends on appetite of candidates." According to his forecasts,
the highest exchange rate of the US dollar will be in late April and
early May, after which it will decline.

E. Aghajanov considered it strange that the increase of the dollar’s
exchange rate does not cause panic at the Central Bank of Armenia
(CBA), which at the time explained the Armenian dram’s appreciation
by an increase in remittances and the number of tourists. "Now that
the dram is depreciating, it is clear that the opposite process must
take place. That is, tourists should disappear and our compatriots
go bankrupt. This is nonsense," E. Aghajanov said.

Besides, according to him, the CBA explained the dollar’s depreciation
by its depreciation in the world. However, in the last two months the
dollar has depreciated by 6-7% against other currencies, whereas the
opposite process is taking place in Armenia.

E. Aghajanov reminded that previously the CBA chairman claimed that the
dollar’s rate is a floating one in Armenia and the CBA has no relation
to its exchange rate, while later in an interview to a newspaper he
confessed that the dram’s rate is a regulated and floating one and
it is regulated by the CBA.