EXPERT FORECASTS 7-8 PER CENT INFLATION IN ARMENIA FOR 2008

ARKA
Oct 20, 2008

YEREVAN, October 20. /ARKA/. An inflation rate of &-8 per cent is
expected in Armenia this year.

At a press conference at the Novosti international press center,
Tigran Jrbashyan, Director for Development, Ameriabank CJSC, said
that the planned inflation rates will not be registered this year,
but "there will be no disaster either".

Despite the current relatively high inflation rates, they will fall
down to 7-8 per cent toward the end of the year, Jrbashyan said.

In its protocol on forecasts and monetary policy for the 4th quarter,
the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) forecasts an inflation rate of 5.8%
for the 4th quarter of 2008 and an annual inflation rate of 3.5%
for the 3rd quarter of next year.

Ion the other hand, an alternative, pessimistic, scenario of
developments on international markets, forecasts an inflation rate
of 5.9% for the 4th quarter of 2008 and 5% for the 3rd quarter of
next year.

An inflation rate of 0.5% was registered in Armenia this September
as compared with August, with an annual inflation rate being 11.3%
– a fall of 0.2%.

An inflation rate of 4% ((±1.5%).is budgeted in Armenia for 2008

–Boundary_(ID_lxs7cvSMStt6YK/pkH79AA)–