PAWN SHOPS REMAIN UNDECIDED

A1+
[07:59 pm] 03 March, 2009

A number of pawn shops in Yerevan refuse to take bonds due to the
sharp rise of the dollar.

"We don’t know what to do-raise the percent of the bond or not. There
is no sense in working now," told "A1+" a worker of the pawn shop
located on Mashtots Avenue.

Workers at another pawn shop on the same avenue explained that they
don’t have any drams and that they will solve the issue tomorrow. In
fact, many people are currently trying to hand their precious items
for getting prepaid money.

There are currently only one or two pawn shops taking bonds in Yerevan,
but their monthly interest rates have sharply increased.

"The monthly interest rate for bonds yesterday was 6 percent. Due to
the rise of the dollar we accept 15% interest rate. We still don’t
know how we are going to work and we need time to make a decision,"
told "A1+" head of the pawn shop.

The price of gold also went up by 1,900 drams today with 29 dollars
for one gram. People don’t even want to pay 15 dollars for gold in
the markets.