Central Bank takes currency market down a peg

2009-09-04 19:13:00

ArmInfo. After a two-week slack, currency operations worth $27.160 mln
were carried out at NASDAQ OMX Armenia at the average exchange rate of
376,86 AMD/ 1USD, Friday. The impressive volume prompts of the scenario
of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), which apparently re- launched the
policy of restraining the exchange rate which has been rising over the
last 2 weeks. ArmInfo experts think that the Friday entry into the
market might be conditioned by the concern about possible exchange rate
growth in the currency cash market over the weekend.

The CBA reports show that the banking market has sufficient AMD
liquidity, which demonstrates the regulator opportunities to gradually
manage the raising exchange tendency. Taking into account the
stabilization resources received by the CBA from IMF, Russia and WB,
experts rule out any re-occurrence of the 3 March 2009 shock scenario
in the short-term outlook.

To note, from 24 August till 4 September inclusive the exchange rates
of banks rose from 361/363 AMD/$1 to 375/376 AMD/$1 (by 3,7% or 13,5
points), and in the retail currency market – from 360/363 AMD/$1 to
375/376 AMD/$1 (by 3,9% or 14 points). Over the given period the banks’
transactions on purchase of currency from clients grew from $49 mln to
$67 mln, nd those on sale of currency grew from $56 mln to $86 mln.
This shows the growth in demand for currency in the intrabank market.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress