NO ARMENIAN BANK WENT BANKRUPT DESPITE THE CRISIS

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.08.2009 14:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ To increase trust in national currency, Armenian
society is required to trust the Government as well as central and
commercial banks, Union of Armenian Banks Chairman Emil Soghomonyan
told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. "If our population has no trust in
Armenian Dram, natural persons will very likely make their investments
in foreign currency," he noted.

As we know, the national currency devaluation recorded in March
greatly affected investment policy. Thus, following March 3, CBA
resumed floating currency rate policy, which caused investors to lose
trust in Armenian Dram.

Touching upon international experience in crisis management,
Soghomonyan noted that many banks had collapsed as a result of global
recession, while "No Armenian bank went bankrupt, despite suffering
significant losses".

The expert does not predict real changes in investment policy and sees
no prospect for national currency devaluation. So he recommends that
"population keep its savings in Drams as rates for national currency
are higher."

On March 3, 2009, RA Central Bank resumed floating currency rate
policy. Specialists anticipate dollar exchange rate to remain within
the boundaries of AMD 360-380. On March 3, 2009 price per 1 US dollar
soared from AMD 305-308 to AMD 380-400.