Artur Javadyan: Armenia`s banking system is highly capitalized and has sufficient liquidity to meet the demand of the economy for loans

ArmInfo. The Central Bank of Armenia continues its consistent work to ensure price and financial stability. This was announced by the chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia in a traditional New Year reception on December 29 summing up the results of 2017. He noted that since 2015 to date the Central Bank has revised the refinancing rate down to 12 times, a total of 4.5 percentage points to today's 6%, taking into account the risk assessments coming from the outside world and the domestic economy.

According to him, the flexible policy of the Central Bank to some extent mitigated the negative impact of external shocks on the Armenian economy, as evidenced by the recorded smallest fluctuation of economic indicators in comparison with the countries of the region. Now there is a stable inflationary environment, which, coupled with the trend of economic activity and the growth of domestic demand, is the basis of economic growth. 2017 is completed with inflation in the range of the target corridor.  "Just two weeks ago, Fitch agency improved the outlook on Armenia's rating from" Stable "to" Positive ", confirming the rating at" B + ", the main factor of which was the CBA monetary policy, once again estimated by Fitch to be reliable, - A. Javadyan noted.

He added that within the framework of stability and development of the financial system, the actions of the Central Bank are aimed at deepening competition between financial organizations, increasing the term of attracted and placed funds (deposits and credits) and their dedollarization, which is the main prerequisite for further growth of lending to the Armenian economy. The reduction in the degree of dollarization of loans and deposits is also noted by rating agencies, which, in their estimation, is necessary from the point of view of ensuring monetary and financial stability. The banking system, characterized as "highly capitalized", is also stable.

"I highly appreciate the flexibility of the activities of financial institutes, especially banks, as a result of which the objectivity of the Central Bank's policy is more rapidly achieving its goals. Over the past 10 years, the ratio of loans to GDP has increased almost threefold, characterizing the growth of the mediator role of the financial system in the economy. Qualitative changes in the development: a significant growth in banking customers and the availability of services offered, a dynamic reduction in lending rates, etc. As a result of the tightening of the minimum size requirement (from January 1, 2017 - AMD 30 billion), banks today are quite liquid and capitalized to meet the demand of the economy for loans," A. Javadyan said.

In the exposure, he noted that the banking system provided almost 10% growth in assets and loans. "2017 will be completed by the growth of key financial indicators and credit companies, insurance companies and other financial organizations. It is noted that the consistent efforts of insurance companies in the formation and formation of insurance culture among the public are noteworthy and the acceleration of the growth rates of the funds accumulated by pension funds, which already reached 105 billion drams, which is 2% of GDP. The professional management of the funds accumulated by these funds made it possible to ensure high profitability," he said.

In terms of the development of the payment and settlement system, Javadyan mentioned the start of ArCa's cooperation with the Russian MIR system, and this intersystem interaction assumes mutual acceptance of cards of national payment systems in the infrastructures of two countries: ArCa cards in Russia, MIR maps in Armenia.