ArmInfo. On September 19-24, the amount of transactions on the interbank forex market of Armenia grew twofold. At the same time, on the intrabank market the operations in terms of US dollar continued their upward dynamics and the Armenian dram (AMD) kept appreciating. Thus, AMD appreciated against USD and EUR to 473.5 AMD/$1 and 531 AMD/1EUR, respectively, and depreciated against Russian ruble (RUR) to 7.4 AMD/1RUR.
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). As a result, in Jan-Aug 2016, AMD appreciated against USD from 482 to 475 AMD/$1, depreciating against EUR from 529 to 530 AMD/1EUR, and against RUR from 6.9 to 7.3 AMD/1RUR. During the first ten days of September, AMD retained its positions against USD and then started to appreciate.
The press office of the Armenian Central Bank has told ArmInfo that on September 19-24 the interbank forex market experienced growth in daily transactions, with the biggest amount registered on Saturday - $4.4 mln and the smallest one fixed on Friday - $500 thsd. On September 19-24, the total amount of operations on the interbank forex market grew twofold to $8.7 mln (versus $4.5 mln a week before, with a 23% decline), and the average exchange rate was 473.89 AMD/$1 (versus 474.35 a week before).On the intrabank market, the USD purchase rose by 13.3% (versus 11.4% increase a week before), the EUR purchase grew by 1% (versus 28.8% rise a week before). At the same time, the USD sales increased by 6.8% (versus 6.3% decline a week before) and EUR sales dropped by 10.7% (versus 16% growth a week before). The RUR purchase declined by 14.5% (versus 45.5% growth a week before), while the RUR sales fell by 29% (versus 19.5% rise a week before). As a result, $84.8 mln was purchased at the average exchange rate of 472.77 AMD/$1; 7.8 mln EUR was bought at 527.54 AMD/1EUR; and 1.3 bln RUR was bought at 7.31 AMD/1RUR. At the same time, $78.6 mln was sold at 474.20 AMD/$1, 12.5 mln EUR was sold at 532.22 AMD/1EUR and 400.7 mln RUR was sold at 7.41 AMD/1RUR.
According to the source, during the previous week (September 12-September 17), the Armenian banks provided AMD loans worth 30.6 bln AMD and USD loans worth $43.3 mln. As compared with the previous week, the amount of USD loans grew by 17.7%, while the amount of AMD loans fell by 27%.
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 24 AMD appreciated against USD and EUR to 473.5 AMD/$1 and 531 AMD/1EUR, respectively, and depreciated against RUR to 7.4 AMD/1RUR.