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Today marks 20 years of adopting Armenia's national currency
12:56 - 23.11.13
Armenia's national currency, the Dram, turns 20 years old today.
On November 23, 1993, the national currency unit was put into
circulation, replacing the Soviet Rouble. On this remarkable occasion,
Tert.am has interviewed Hrant Bagratyan, Armenia's then prime
minister, who now represents the parliamentary opposition.
Tell please the history of introducing the Dram.
The Dram was introduced by the Supreme Council [current National
Assembly] as Armenia was in the Rouble zone until August 26, 1993. On
August 26, Russia declared the new [national] Rouble. We had purchased
the Dram, together with the Lumas, under one of the former prime
ministers, I mean Gagik Harutyunyan, and asked Poland to transport the
full amount to Armenia. Armenia's economic records were the best in
the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] as of January-October
1993. I took over the cabinet in late February, after the catastrophic
decline. We were hopeful to get through 1993 with a relative economic
growth and be the first among the CIS states. We got in touch with
Moscow to know what precisely the new Rouble's meant, and the response
we got was the the Rouble would be made available only to the
countries which Russia believed were to join an economic union. They
said further that Tajikistan was the only candidate at the moment.
That was the situation until late October. As early as in October, we
were given a certain amount of the August 26 Rouble. On October 18, we
met with the Russian government's expanded staff together with [first]
President Levon Ter-Petrosyan. They clearly told us that Armenia was
very unlikely to qualify for the Rouble. The International Monetary
Fund too, insisted - until the summer of 1993 0 that we avoid
switching over to the national currency. We were back from Moscow on
October 18. And we applied to the Supreme Council, proposing the Dram
as the national currency. We did not have a serious law on the Central
Bank then. So the cabinet initiated the new law. After consultations,
the Supreme Council made a decision to launch the Dram. The process
was entrusted to the Supreme Council Committee (Tigran Sargsyan, Levon
Barkhudaryan, Isahak Isahakyan).
And what did the cabinet do then? How was the Dram introduced?
When the Dram was introduced, it was [current Prime Minister] Tigran
Sargsyan's decision to propose the 1:45 ratio. The cabinet proposed
that the ratio be 1:40. The Dram had 20 times lost its value upon
being launched; had our proposal been passed, it would have been
devaluated by five times. After the situation took a catastrophic turn
10 days later, the cabinet applied to the Supreme Council [warning of]
a danger of losing the republic. It proposed that all the functions of
managing the Dram be vested with the cabinet. The National Assembly
did not pass the law, but the cabinet was de facto vested with those
authorities. We then launched several stock exchanges with rapid
efforts and established a market [exchange] rate, abandoning the
`fixed' 1:14 ratio. In the period spanning from October until January,
I recorded a growth, but the introduction of the dram in such a way
spoiled everything. In 1994, we already managed to ensure an economic
growth, being the first in the CIS area.
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2013/11/23/dram-bagratyan/
12:56 - 23.11.13
Armenia's national currency, the Dram, turns 20 years old today.
On November 23, 1993, the national currency unit was put into
circulation, replacing the Soviet Rouble. On this remarkable occasion,
Tert.am has interviewed Hrant Bagratyan, Armenia's then prime
minister, who now represents the parliamentary opposition.
Tell please the history of introducing the Dram.
The Dram was introduced by the Supreme Council [current National
Assembly] as Armenia was in the Rouble zone until August 26, 1993. On
August 26, Russia declared the new [national] Rouble. We had purchased
the Dram, together with the Lumas, under one of the former prime
ministers, I mean Gagik Harutyunyan, and asked Poland to transport the
full amount to Armenia. Armenia's economic records were the best in
the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] as of January-October
1993. I took over the cabinet in late February, after the catastrophic
decline. We were hopeful to get through 1993 with a relative economic
growth and be the first among the CIS states. We got in touch with
Moscow to know what precisely the new Rouble's meant, and the response
we got was the the Rouble would be made available only to the
countries which Russia believed were to join an economic union. They
said further that Tajikistan was the only candidate at the moment.
That was the situation until late October. As early as in October, we
were given a certain amount of the August 26 Rouble. On October 18, we
met with the Russian government's expanded staff together with [first]
President Levon Ter-Petrosyan. They clearly told us that Armenia was
very unlikely to qualify for the Rouble. The International Monetary
Fund too, insisted - until the summer of 1993 0 that we avoid
switching over to the national currency. We were back from Moscow on
October 18. And we applied to the Supreme Council, proposing the Dram
as the national currency. We did not have a serious law on the Central
Bank then. So the cabinet initiated the new law. After consultations,
the Supreme Council made a decision to launch the Dram. The process
was entrusted to the Supreme Council Committee (Tigran Sargsyan, Levon
Barkhudaryan, Isahak Isahakyan).
And what did the cabinet do then? How was the Dram introduced?
When the Dram was introduced, it was [current Prime Minister] Tigran
Sargsyan's decision to propose the 1:45 ratio. The cabinet proposed
that the ratio be 1:40. The Dram had 20 times lost its value upon
being launched; had our proposal been passed, it would have been
devaluated by five times. After the situation took a catastrophic turn
10 days later, the cabinet applied to the Supreme Council [warning of]
a danger of losing the republic. It proposed that all the functions of
managing the Dram be vested with the cabinet. The National Assembly
did not pass the law, but the cabinet was de facto vested with those
authorities. We then launched several stock exchanges with rapid
efforts and established a market [exchange] rate, abandoning the
`fixed' 1:14 ratio. In the period spanning from October until January,
I recorded a growth, but the introduction of the dram in such a way
spoiled everything. In 1994, we already managed to ensure an economic
growth, being the first in the CIS area.
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2013/11/23/dram-bagratyan/