EXCHANGE RATE OF NATIONAL CURRENCY AGAINST FOREIGN CURRENCY SHOULD FORM IN A MARKET WAY RATHER THAN BY EXTENSIVE REGULATION, CHAIRMAN OF UNIASTRUM BANK SAYS

Noyan Tapan
March 20, 2009

YEREVAN, MARCH 20, NOYAN TAPAN. The exchange rate of the national
currency against foreign currency should form in a market way rather
than by extensive regulation. The director of Uniinvest company,
chairman of the board of Unibank (Armenia) and chairman of the bank’s
founder – Uniastrum Bank (Russia) Gagik Zakarian expressed this
opinion. Commenting on the actions of Armenian monetary and credit
authorities before the shift to a floating exchange rate policy and
after that, he said that "they should probably have done it earlier,
but, in any case, market conditions of formation of the exchange rate
should exist".

In the opinion of G. Zakarian, the Central Bank of Armenia is currently
taking correct actions on formation of the exchange rate. "We know
Armenia’s balance of payment, and I think that now the exchange rate
of the Armenian dram against foreign currency is weighted and it
corresponds to monetary flows entering Armenia and coming out of it".