12:02, 14 October, 2021
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The assigning of a rating by the S&P Global Ratings to Armenia for the first time has a strategic meaning, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan said today at the Cabinet meeting.
According to him, this development contributes to the internal formation of both the domestic and the foreign capital market. “This is very important for us”, he said.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that over the past years the government has issued Eurobonds twice, and in both cases a historical minimum of rates has been registered. “International investors trusted the capacity of Armenia, and they turned to be right in fact. It’s necessary to work with the private sector very intensively, so that the companies will go to the capital market. This will raise the affordability of loans, because if there is an alternative in the market, the banks will have to run a more flexible interest rate policy, which can inject a new blood in our economy”, the PM said.
Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan added that the rating helps to activate the processes in the domestic market. “Even the Central Bank for some reserve normatives has privileges for those companies who have a rating”, he said.
In turn the Central Bank President Martin Galstyan said this rating reduces the spending of private companies. “I think in this sense the government has taken the necessary step, maybe we need to urge the private companies to be open, transparent and accountable in order to be able to attract funds and carry out their activities”, he said.
PM Pashinyan added that the government must work with those potential companies which can be rated. “We should put a task before us that in 2022-2023 we will do everything for the appearance of such companies”, the PM added.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
