USD RATE REACHES 400
Naira Hayrumyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/economy26216.html
Published: 13:15:54 - 16/05/2012
Yesterday the USD rate reached the psychological barrier of AMD 400.
Yesterday Armenian banks sold 1 US dollar for AMD 398.
The Armenian dram depreciated before the elections but right after May
6, the rate grows steeply. Analyst Babken Tunyan told the Armenian
service of RFE/RL that this is connected with the financial traffic
prior to the elections. "Even official statistics showed in the
election period, in April, the scale of cash AMD out of Central Bank
increased by 35 billion. That is, the market was flooded with a large
amount of drams and now the dram amount puts pressure," Tunyan said.
The ex-president of the Central bank Bagrat Asatryan says more than
50 billion of cash amount of drams were circulated in the first days
of May.
Economists claimed for years that the USD rate is artificially lowered
in Armenia and the "red price" of the dollar is about AMD450. The low
rate of dollar in Armenia is good for the importers who buy cheap
dollars in Armenia and gain from the difference of rates here and
abroad while the exporters and people who receive transfers from
abroad lose.
The international financial institutions hardly managed to make the
Armenian government let the dollar rate free. Then the rate of the
dollar grew from 320 to 370 in one night. It was stated that this
was not the limit and the dollar was said to rise up to 380.
Now this limit has already been passed and will never return again.
There is hope that the Armenian government has decided not to dance
to the importers' pipe and set a floating dollar rate. Perhaps,
it was the condition for loans by international organizations.
Be that as it may, if the growth of the dollar rate is really connected
with the illegal emission (according to eyewitnesses, the pre-election
bribes were brand-new bills), it is a crime against the state, which
should be investigated.
Furthermore, if the government decided to abuse the situation and push
the importers, it should say so openly. As well as after the elections,
the prices of consumer goods grew in the stores of importers.
Naira Hayrumyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/economy26216.html
Published: 13:15:54 - 16/05/2012
Yesterday the USD rate reached the psychological barrier of AMD 400.
Yesterday Armenian banks sold 1 US dollar for AMD 398.
The Armenian dram depreciated before the elections but right after May
6, the rate grows steeply. Analyst Babken Tunyan told the Armenian
service of RFE/RL that this is connected with the financial traffic
prior to the elections. "Even official statistics showed in the
election period, in April, the scale of cash AMD out of Central Bank
increased by 35 billion. That is, the market was flooded with a large
amount of drams and now the dram amount puts pressure," Tunyan said.
The ex-president of the Central bank Bagrat Asatryan says more than
50 billion of cash amount of drams were circulated in the first days
of May.
Economists claimed for years that the USD rate is artificially lowered
in Armenia and the "red price" of the dollar is about AMD450. The low
rate of dollar in Armenia is good for the importers who buy cheap
dollars in Armenia and gain from the difference of rates here and
abroad while the exporters and people who receive transfers from
abroad lose.
The international financial institutions hardly managed to make the
Armenian government let the dollar rate free. Then the rate of the
dollar grew from 320 to 370 in one night. It was stated that this
was not the limit and the dollar was said to rise up to 380.
Now this limit has already been passed and will never return again.
There is hope that the Armenian government has decided not to dance
to the importers' pipe and set a floating dollar rate. Perhaps,
it was the condition for loans by international organizations.
Be that as it may, if the growth of the dollar rate is really connected
with the illegal emission (according to eyewitnesses, the pre-election
bribes were brand-new bills), it is a crime against the state, which
should be investigated.
Furthermore, if the government decided to abuse the situation and push
the importers, it should say so openly. As well as after the elections,
the prices of consumer goods grew in the stores of importers.