ArmInfo. According to the World Bank's forecast, the international reserves of Armenia in 2019 will be reduced to $ 1.953 billion, but later will increase in 2020 to $ 2.250 billion. The new forecast is given in the WB economic report "Armenia. A strong mandate for change amid a global slowdown. Winter 2019>.
According to the data of Central Bank of Armenia, gross international reserves of Armenia for 2018 amounted to $ 2.249 billion. Of these, the lion's share - $ 2.243 billion accounted for external assets in hard currency, and the share of SDR in the IMF was $ 6 million. Within the year, the gross international reserves decreased by 2.8%, external assets in hard currency decreased by the same amount, while the share of SDR fell by 17.5%. Before that, in 2017, gross international reserves increased by 4.5%, with a similar increase in foreign assets in hard currency and a jump in the share of SDR in the IMF 1.6-fold.
The Central Bank explained that the main factor in the volatility of international reserves during 2018 was the payment of about $ 200 million to repay and service the government debt. But the Central Bank managed to ensure a smaller decline in reserves due to other operations (buying up currency, income from managing international reserves, etc.).
At the same time, the Central Bank stressed that the level of international reserves continues to meet the basic requirements for foreign exchange reserves, namely, regarding the possibility of mitigating possible external shocks. The level of international reserves of Armenia, not only meets the most stringent requirements of the IMF, but is also rated more highly in comparison with the neighboring countries. The Central Bank, in the conditions of the formed trends and expected development in the financial markets, continued its strategy for managing international reserves with minimal risks, aimed at ensuring the reliability of international reserves, liquidity and efficient management.