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.