Interbank forex market of Armenia increases activity

ArmInfo. On October 3-7, the  amount of transactions on the interbank forex market of Armenia grew  by 60.7%. At the same time, on the intrabank market the operations in  terms of EUR demonstrated downward dynamics, the purchase and sale of  USD demonstrated different trend, while purchase and sale of RUR  grew.  Thus, in the first week of October 2016, AMD depreciated  against USD from 474 to 475 AMD/$1, against RUR from 7.5 to 7.7  AMD/1RUR appreciating against EUR from 532 to 528 AMD/1EUR. In  overall, 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 October 3-7 the interbank forex market increased the daily amounts  of its transactions, with the largest amount registered on Wednesday  and Friday- $6.3 mln in each of both days and the smallest amount  fixed on Monday- $800 thsd. The total amount of transactions on the  interbank forex market for Oct 3-7 grew by 60.7% to $17.950 mln  (versus the previous $11.234 mln), forming the average exchange rate  at 474.91 AMD/$1 (versus the previous 474.67 AMD/1USD). In the  meantime, on the intrabank forex market USD purchase dropped by 2%  (versus 13% drop a week before), while EUR purchase declined by 4.1%  (versus 2.6% decline a week before), USD sales increased by 19%  (versus 1% rise a week before) and EUR sales declined by 0.9% (versus  6.4% fall a week before). At the same time upward dynamics of RUR  transactions was registered on the intrabank forex market: RUR  purchase increased by 1.6% (versus 5.6% fall a week before), while  RUR sales sharply grew by 30% (versus 10.2% growth a week before). As  a result, USD purchase made up $72.5 mln at the average exchange rate  of 473.43 AMD/$1, EUR purchase - 7.12 mln EUR at 528.41 AMD/1EUR, and  RUR purchase 1.3 bln RUR at 7.53 AMD/1RUR, whereas USD sales amounted  to $94.3 mln at 474.83 AMD/$1, EUR sales - 11.6 mln EUR at 532.46  AMD/1EUR, and RUR sales - 575.5 mln RUR at 7.63 AMD/1RUR.

According to the source, during the previous week (September  26-October 1), the Armenian banks provided AMD loans worth 46.7 bln  AMD and USD loans worth $48.8 mln. The weekly dynamics of both AMD  and USD loans was upward. Particularly, amount of provided AMD loans  sharply grew to 46.9% from 3.9% while amount of USD loans  demonstrated 27.7% growth after 12.2% decline a week earlier. 

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 482AMD/$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. In the first week of October  (1-7) AMD demonstrated devaluation against USD (to 475 AMD/$1 from  474 AMD/$) and RUR (to 7.7 AMD/1RUR from 7.5 AMD/1RUR) and  revaluation against EUR to 528 AMD/1EUR from 532 AMD/1EUR.