ARMENIAN NATIONAL CURRENCY IS 15 YEARS OLD

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Nov 24 2008
Georgia

15 years ago the Armenian national currency, the dram, was
introduced. Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian, who was the
head of the Armenian Central Bank for a long time, has said that
Armenia has a stable and reliable currency. He says this has been
proved by the durability the Armenian banking and finance system has
shown during the financial crisis. According to the Prime Minister,
it is important that the banking culture of the developed countries
has been established in Armenia.

The introduction of the dram has not been so pleasant for the Armenian
population. 200 rubles were exchanged for 1 dram at that time, and
14.5 drams equaled 1 USD. Many think that the initial ruble/dram
exchange rate was too low and has devalues the bank savings of the
population. Soon after the dram was introduced it devalued against
the dollar. Along with the population and economists, designers
also criticized the dram – harsh mistakes were made in its design,
and linguists claimed that there was a mistake in spelling of its
name in the Armenian language.

In 2003 the rate of dram to dollar was 600 dram to 1 USD. Since then
the rate has been stabilized. Many consider this to be artificial,
however the Government says that the stabilization has been brought
about by the large amount of private transfers. Currently 300 dram
equals 1 USD.