In mid-December Armenian Dram retained its positions against USD, appreciating against EUR and depreciating against RUR

ArmInfo. On Dec 12-16,  transactions on the forex interbank market of Armenia grew by 63%,  following 63% decline a week before. In the meantime, the purchase  and sale of USD and EUR demonstrated active dynamics amid the  subsiding interest in RUR operations.

As a result, during the current  week AMD kept retained its position against USD at 484.5 AMD/$1,  appreciating against EUR from 514 to 505 AMD/1EUR and depreciating  against RUR from 7.7 to 7.9 AMD/1RUR.  Earlier, in Jan- Sept 2016,  AMD appreciated against USD from 482 to 474 AMD/USD1, depreciating  against EUR from 529 to 532 AMD/1EUR, and against RUR from 6.9 to 7.5  AMD/1RUR. In October AMD devaluated against USD to 476 AMD/USD1,  revaluated against EUR to 521 AMD/1EUR, while the AMD/RUR exchange  rate remained unchanged - 7.5 AMD/1RUR.  This tendency continued in  November. 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: USD100 thousand in March, USD2.950 mln in April and  USD800 thousand in May, after which it was passive. In Jan-Sept 2016,  the Central Bank bought USD on the foreign exchange market in April  (USD2.4 mln), June (USD50.2 mln), August ($19.8 mln), and September  (USD28.8mln), and sold in January and February (USD53.1 mln and USD  41.5mln, respectively).

The press office of the Central Bank of Armenia has told ArmInfo that  on Dec 12-16 the forex interbank market increased the amount of daily  transactions, with the biggest amounts registered on Friday and  Wednesday - $6.050 mln and $5.250 mln, respectively, and the smallest  amount on Monday - $189 thsd. The total amount of the transactions on  the forex interbank market during the current week amounted $13.789  mln (versus $4.459 mln a week before), and the average exchange rate  was 485.28 AMD/$1 (versus 482.37 a week before). At the same time, on  the intrabank market USD purchase rose by 36%, while EUR purchase  grew by 26%. USD sales rose by 39%, and EUR sales grew by 28%. RUR  purchase fell by 23%, and RUR sales - by 54%. As a result, the  purchase totaled $90.6 mln at the average exchange rate of 483.77  AMD/$1, 9.7 mln EUR at 511.09 AMD/1EUR, and 1.007 bln RUR at 7.82  AMD/1RUR. The sales amounted to $115.3 mln at the average rate of  485.64 AMD/$1, 13.4 mln EUR at 514.14 AMD/1EUR, and 353.9 mln RUR at  7.96 AMD/1RUR.

According to the source, during the previous week (December 5-10),  the Armenian banks provided AMD loans worth 45.2 bln AMD and USD  loans worth $91.5 mln. The amount of AMD loans fell by 5% and the  amount of USD loans rose by 61%. 

To recall, in 2015, on the retail foreign exchange market of Armenia  AMD weakened against USD from 477 to 482 AMD/USD1 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/USD1, however since March it strengthened and stood  at 482 AMD/1USD by March 25. In overall in H1 2016 AMD appreciated to  477 AMD/USD1 from 482 AMD/USD1, devaluating in mid Feb (to 496  AMD/USD1 from 482AMD/USD1 on Feb 12), in the first decade of April  (to 484.5AMD/USD1 from 479 AMD/USD1), in mid May (to 480.5 AMD/USD1  from 479 AMD/USD1-on May 12), in the early and late June (to 479  AMD/USD1 from 478 on June 3 and to 477 AMD/USD1 from 476 AMD/USD1 on  June 30). In July AMD appreciated to 476 AMD/USD1 only in the  beginning of the third decade, after which it stood at the initial  level of 477 AMD/USD1. In August, AMD demonstrated revaluation - 475  AMD/USD1 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/USD1 and 532  AMD/1EUR, respectively. Along with it, AMD depreciated against RUR to  7.5 AMD/1RUR. In October AMD devaluated against USD to 476 AMD/1USD,  revaluated against EUR to 521 AMD/1EUR, while the AMD/RUR exchange  rate remained unchanged - 7.5 AMD/1RUR. This trend continued in  November. By November 30, AMD depreciated against USD to 480.5  AMD/$1, at the same time appreciating against EUR to 511 AMD/1EUR and  appreciating against RUR at 7.4 AMD/1RUR. In early December AMD kept  depreciating against USD, at the same time weakening against EUR and  RUR, but in mid-December AMD appreciated against EUR and continued  weakening against RUR, retaining its position against USD.