ArmInfo. Armenia's gross international reserves for the I quarter of 2017 decreased by 7.6% to $ 2.036 billion.
According to Armenian Central Bank, in the reserve structure $ 2.035.9 billion is external assets in hard currency, which experienced a 7.5% quarterly decline. The SDR's share in the IMF was $ 0.1 million, down from $ 3.5 million at the beginning of the year. On an annual basis (in the 1st quarter of 2017 by the first quarter of 2016), gross international reserves increased by 25.2%, due to the growth of external assets in hard currency by 26.3%, while the share of SDR in the IMF dropped significantly from $ 13.9 million in the I quarter of 2016. On a monthly basis, after the January fall in gross international reserves by 6.2%, in February, the rate slowed down to 2%, with a slight increase of 0.5% in March, due to a similar increase in foreign assets in hard currency, while the share of SDR in the IMF declined in 2 times.
As for comparison, in the first quarter of 2016, the gross international reserves decreased by 8.4%. In their structure, external assets in hard currency sank by 9%, while the share of SDR in the IMF increased almost 5-fold. The annual dynamics at that time (I quarter of 2016 to the first quarter of 2015) looked as follows: gross international reserves grew by 9%, foreign assets in hard currency - by 8.1%, and the share of SDR in the IMF - 20 times.
To recall, Gross international reserves for 2016 increased by 24.2% to $ 2.204.2 billion. According to the Central Bank of Armenia, in the structure of reserves $ 1.579.4 billion is external assets in hard currency, which have undergone annual growth by 34.4%. The SDR's share in the IMF was $ 3.5 million, an increase by 21.8% over the year. The share of bank gold in Armenia's gross international reserves was zeroed in December 2003.