Armenian dram slightly appreciated against US dollar in September

ArmInfo. On September 26-30,  the amount of transactions on the interbank forex market of Armenia  grew by 29%. At the same time, on the intrabank market the operations  in terms of EUR demonstrated downward dynamics, while the purchase  and sale of USD and RUR demonstrated different trends.  Thus, in  Jan-Sept 2016, AMD appreciated against USD from 482 to 474 AMD/$1,  depreciating against EUR from 529 to 532 AMD/1EUR, and against RUR  from 6.9 to 7.5 AMD/1RUR. In September alone, AMD revaluated against  USD from 475 to 474 AMD/$1. 

Since the beginning of the year the foreign exchange market showed  signs of life rarely making one at a time transaction between March  and May:  $100 thousand in March, $2.950 mln in April and $800  thousand in May, after which it was passive. In H1, Central Bank  bought USD on the foreign exchange market in June ($50.2 mln) and  April ($2.4 mln) and sold in January and February ($53.1 mln and  $41.5mln, respectively). 

The press office of the Central Bank of Armenia has told ArmInfo that  on September 26-30 the interbank forex market increased the daily  amounts of its transactions, with the largest amount registered on Wednesday  - $3.7 mln and the smallest amount fixed on Tuesday - $800 thsd. The  total amount of transactions on the interbank forex market for Sept  26-30 grew by 29% to $11.2 mln (versus the previous $8.7 mln),  forming the average exchange rate at 474.67 AMD/$1 (versus the  previous 473.89 AMD/1USD). In the meantime, on the intrabank forex  market USD purchase dropped by 13% (versus 13.3% growth a week  before), while EUR purchase declined by 2.6% (versus 1% rise a week  before). USD sales increased by 1% (versus 6.8% rise a week before)  and EUR sales declined by 6.4% (versus 10.7% fall a week before). RUR  purchase dropped by 56% (versus 14.5% fall a week before), while RUR  sales grew by 10.2% (versus 29% decline a week before). USD purchase  made up $74 mln at the average exchange rate of 473.24 AMD/$1, EUR  purchase - 7.6 mln EUR at 529.35 AMD/1EUR, and RUR purchase 1.3 bln  RUR at 7.40 AMD/1RUR, whereas USD sales amounted to $79.5 mln at  474.66 AMD/$1, EUR sales - 11.7 mln EUR at 533.42 AMD/1EUR, and RUR  sales - 441.6 mln RUR at 7.49 AMD/1RUR.

According to the source, during the previous week (September  19-September 24), the Armenian banks provided AMD loans worth 31.8  bln AMD and USD loans worth $38.2 mln. As compared with the previous  week, the amount of USD loans dropped by 12.2%, while the amount of  AMD loans grew by 3.9%. 

To recall, in 2015, on the retail foreign exchange market of Armenia  AMD weakened against USD from 477 to 482 AMD/$1 on average and  strengthened against EUR from 571.5 to 529 AMD/1EUR and against  Russian ruble from 8.2 to 6.9 AMD/1 RUR.  Between December 14 and 28,  the Central Bank made almost daily interventions.  AMD depreciated  amid decline of foreign trade turnover (by 20.6%), while import  dropped more significantly (by 26.5%) than export (by 3.9%) as well  as the decline in transfer inflow to Armenia more than by 30%, and  this happened in conditions of low buying capacity of the population  and low economic activity in the country.  Since early 2016, AMD  started depreciating again on the retail foreign exchange market of  Armenia to 496AMD/$1, however since March it strengthened and stood  at 482 AMD/1USD by March 25. In overall in H1 2016 AMD appreciated to  477 AMD/$1 from 482 AMD/$1, devaluating in mid Feb (to 496 AMD/$1  from 479AMD/$1 on Feb 12), in the first decade of April (to  484.5AMD/$1 from 479 AMD/$1), in mid May (to 480.5 AMD/$1 from 479  AMD/$1-on May 12), in the early and late June (to 479 AMD/$1 from 478  on June 3 and to 477 AMD/$1 from 476 AMD/$1 on June 30). In July AMD  appreciated to 476 AMD/$1 only in the beginning of the third decade,  after which it stood at the initial level of 477 AMD/$1.  In August,  AMD demonstrated revaluation - 475 AMD/$1 by August 31 and stood at  this level in the first ten days of September, after which it further  revaluated. Thus, by September 30, AMD appreciated against USD and  EUR to 474 AMD/$1 and 532 AMD/1EUR, respectively. Along with it, AMD  depreciated against RUR to 7.5 AMD/1RUR.