Friday, November 22 2013 21:47
Armenian dram is 20 years old
ArmInfo. Armenian national dram is 20 years old. November 22 is celebrated in Armenia as a Bank Employee Day.
On occasion of the 20th anniversary of the national currency, all the jubilee coins issued since 1994 in the country - a total of 39 gold and 39 silver coins of the "Armenian Alphabet" series - were exhibited at the National Gallery.
On this occasion, a reception was held at the Central Bank of Armenia. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, Government and Parliament members, and other officials, as well as Head of Interstatebank and representatives of international organizations attended the event.
Head of the Central Bank Arthur Javadyan welcomed the guests. In his speech, Javadyan said that the banking system of Armenia and the national currency have passed a way full of testing and challenges and created a good history over the past 20 years.
"It is not hard to imagine what kind of challenges Armenia faced after gaining independence. The Central Bank was to develop its monetary policy and financial supervision functions having no government reserves. The most difficult in that unfavorable situation was to establish trust in the financial system and the national currency. Nevertheless, thanks to teamwork, the Central Bank has managed to increase trust in the Armenian national currency and financial system. Armenian dram is not just currency, but a symbol of Armenia's independence," said the chief banker of Armenia.
Over the last 5 years, Javadyan went on, the financial system of Armenia has proved its ability to meet serious challenges. The growth of deposits and loans in the heaviest period of the financial-economic crisis of 2008 is the best evidence of that. While the world financial institutions were facing bankruptcy, no financial institutions in Armenia faced insolvency problems. Consequently, there was no need for government assistance. The Financial Ombudsman's Office was created in the country in 2009 and the National Mortgage Company was founded to refinance mortgage loans of financial institutions, Javadyan recalled.
"The limit of the guaranteed deposits was increased legislatively: drams deposits - to 4 million drams and US dollar deposits - to 2 million drams. In 2011 the PanArmenian Bank launched activity in the country. Government began subsidizing agricultural loans. A Car Insurance Bureau was created with introduction of MTPL. The preparations for introduction of the accumulative pension system are nearing completion," Javadyan said.
Actually, he said, the financial mediation increased 2.5fold over the last 5 years, with the loans and deposits growing 30% in average. Interest rates on loans fell 3-4 percentage points, he said, and financial services became more accessible. "Corporate management system is improving day by day along with level of financial literacy. For comparison, in 2008 the loan portfolio of banks was 615 bln drams and assets amounted to 1 trillion drams. Now, these indicators have reached 1.6 trillion and 2.7 trillion drams, respectively," Javadyan said for conclusion.
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