Friday, April 4 2014 19:52
Armenian President and heads of Central Bank's major departments discuss situation in financial sector and key directions of development
ArmInfo. During today's visit to the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan familiarized himself with the activities of the CBA's major departments and discussed the situation in the financial sector, key directions of development, as well as challenges and scenarios to resist the challenges. The press service of the Armenian President has told ArmInfo that the head of the surveillance department informed the President of the approaches to internal audit, including the technological solutions.
At the cash operations department, Sargsyan saw the process of automated re-count of the cash drams by means of up-to-date detectors checking the banknote authenticity, which have minimized the human factor and considerably reduced the operational risks. The automatic re-count systems separate the forged and insolvent banknotes and pack the authentic ones. As regards the old banknotes, the equipment destroys them on the spot. At the financial department, the President familiarized himself with the current situation on the international financial market, the main directions of management of international reserves, and discussed issues related to the dynamics of placement of Armenian Eurobonds and the inflow of foreign investments.
Afterwards, Serzh Sargsyan met with the senior management of the Central Bank. CBA Chairman Artur Javadyan, Deputy Chairman Nerses Yeritsyan, as well as the heads of a number of departments presented the key directions of the CBA's activities, the achievements reached over the past few years, as well as the reforms, problems of the banking sector and the ways to settle them. Javadyan summed up the measures taken in the banking sector over the past few years and stressed the key vectors of strategic development, challenges and possibilities to resist them. Yeritsyan touched on the results of the Dilijan Center's activity, the CBA's surveys and the steps taken to develop the scientific potential.
The head of the monetary department of the CBA touched on the issues related to inflation management and the recent changes in the monetary policy. He also presented the institutional capacities of the CBA .
The head of the department for development and financial system stability, Andranik Grigoryan, presented the course of the financial system development over the past 5 years and the development prospects. He stressed that lending, deposits, assets and other key indices have increased 3-fold, demonstrating the enhancement of availability of financial services. As regards financial stability, the solvency assessment stress tests have demonstrated that the financial system resists various shocks. When speaking of the prospects, Grigoryan pointed out introduction of Basel III standards, which will strengthen the financial stability even more.
The head of the statistics department, Martin Galstyan, pointed out that in the near future statistical operations will be conducted in two major dimensions: surveys with involvement of more respondents and creation of a bank of microeconomic data.
Sargsyan stressed the need to support the farmers that have suffered from natural disasters. "They have sustained serious damages but the Government and the Central Bank are already working to make them softer," the President said, adding that it is necessary to reschedule the payables of those farmers.
In 2013 Armenia's banks lent farmers 112.3bln AMD ($277mln) or 23% more than in 2012. In Apr 2011 the Government began subsidizing the interest rates of agricultural loans. This program involves Ardshininvestbank, Converse Bank, ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, ProCredit Bank and Artsakhbank. In 2011-2013 the Government provided the program with 54.7bln AMD, in 2014 it is planning to give it 15bln AMD. The loans have an interest of 14%, with 4% subsidized by the Government (for very poor farmers the subsidizing amounts to 6%).
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