Central Bank of Armenia: Dollarizaiton level of Armenian banking system edges toward 70% and foreign currency loans should be tightened to reduce it

ArmInfo. Regulatory changes by the Central Bank of Armenia are also aimed at reducing the dollarization level in Armenia's banks, which totals nearly 70%, Head of Financial System Stability and Development Department of CBA Andranik Grigoryan stated on May 27, while presenting today report on Armenia's financial stability at year end -2015.

According to him in this light it is first and foremost necessary to conduct work aimed at changing the structure of mortgage portfolio. As Grigoryan explained CBA on the current stage stimulates mortgage lending in local currency reducing its cost. "If we follow the dynamics of mortgage lending growth of loans in national currency via various programs has been registered recently", he noted stressing that the influence of this policy will be more tangible after a certain lapse of time. At the same time Grigoryan stressed the necessity of tightening the terms of foreign currency mortgage loans in order to increase interest in national currency loans.

According to the data of CBA provided to ArmInfo, the share of the foreign exchange component in the aggregate loan book of the banking system increased from 62% to 67%, while the share of AMD component dropped from 38% to 33% (by April 2016). At the same time the share of foreign currency deposits in the total amount of banks' raisings dropped from 70,8% to 68.7% y-o-y, amid growth of those in national currency from 29.2% to 31.3%. In average the interest rate on AMD loans was fixed at 19.11% as of April 2016 (with no y-o-y change) versus 15.13% in previous quarter. The interest rate on AMD deposits was fixed at 11.45% by April 2016 versus 13.33% in previous quarter and 15.21% a year before.