PRIME MINISTER OF ARMENIA: COMMERCIAL BANKS OF ARMENIA ARE WELL PREPARED TO SERVE THE WHOLE ARMENIAN ECONOMIC SYSTEM
ArmInfo
2009-03-05 12:54:00
ArmInfo. Central Bank of Armenia has multiply claimed over the last
several months that it does not refuse of the "national currency
floating rate" policy, we just had to keep a fixed rate at a certain
stage that was conditioned by the necessity of stability assurance
in the financial market, Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sarkisyan
told the Public TV of Armenia commenting on March 3 situation in the
financial market. According to T.
Sarkisyan, with a stable fixed rate we succeeded to assure stability of
the whole financial system that allowed to transfer to the "floating
rate" policy. The national currency stably consolidated to US dollar
at a certain stage, as a result of which, against the background
of the global financial and economic crisis, the economy of Armenia
turned out in a situation under which it was necessary to devaluate
the national currency, that required a transient period.
‘It is impossible to transfer the hot organism into a cold one>, the
PM said and added that the economy of Armenia is a living organism,
and if the country makes such a transfer, its organism should be
enabled to conform to this period.
First of all, the matter concerned the necessity to strengthen the
capabilities of the commercial banks, that actually happened. The
commercial banks of Armenia increased their capital by $120 mln over
the last several months. It means that the bank owners invested
additional $120 mln in their commercial banks to assure their own
depositors’ funds.
‘Thus, reliability of the Armenian banking system grew by $120 mln
more’, T. Sarkisyan said. Moreover, he added, the country’s commercial
banks , could attract about $250 mln for assurance of their stability,
and these dollars are liquid. Moreover, the commercial banks currently
have $700 mln in cash, by which both the clients and the economy can
be provided. ‘In other words, the commercial banks are well prepared
to serve the whole economic system of the country’, the PM said and
emphasized that everybody, including the state, pay a certain price
for the gradual transfer to the ‘floating rate’.
It is important for everyone, both the economic subjects, the citizens
and the state to have minimum losses during the transfer.
As the experience of a number of states shows, the gradual transfer
leads to some serious risks. First of all, a real situation, caused by
uncertainty, is formed around the exchange rate. Moreover, wildcatters
appear in the market in this case, that hinders the country’s gradual
transfer. As a result, both the Central Bank and commercial banks
turn out to be unready, and the losses they could bear in this case
would be much higher. ‘We see the experience of Ukraine and Russia
which carried out large-scale interventions in their markets, however,
they did not succeed to assure gradual transfer’, T. Sarkisyan said. A
version was chosen in Armenia jointly with IMF, according to which the
‘floating rate’ should make up 360-380 AMD/$1 US.