Central Bank of Armenia summed up the results of the ``My Finance  Month`` annual program

ArmInfo. Central Bank of Armenia summed up the program "My Finance Month-2019'', held in this year under the slogan ''Find your card in the financial world''. During a press conference convened on May 30 in connection with this event, a  member of the CBA Council Armenak Darbinyan noted that the goal of  the program is to provide citizens with the necessary skills and  knowledge to effectively manage personal finances through  informational and interactive activities.

''As part of this initiative, about 30 events of a different nature were held for  participants (seminars, games, contests, open days), in particular  concerning leasing, a pension fund, agricultural insurance, the  current state of the securities market, actual and key rate control  mechanisms, and the start of business. etc'', he said.

Director of Consumer Protection and Financial Education Cente  Armenuhi Mkrtchyan stated that in 2019 there were positive trends  compared to previous years, in particular from the point of view of  citizens' interest. She explained that the questions of interest to  citizens have changed, which have become more profound. "If earlier  we talked exclusively about basic things, we tried to simply change  the attitude of citizens to financial management issues, today they  are already interested in details," she said, noting in this key the  interest of program participants in efficiency and investment areas,  how to start a business, conduct marketing, manage the budget. "The  nature of these questions tells us that we should already change the  nature of the activities being carried out with the transition from  basic traditional to deeper ones. Then the format of the event will  allow citizens to participate in seminars, the topics of which are  more preferable and where there will be an opportunity to receive  answers to their detailed questions, "she said.

According to A. Mkrtchyan, the most joyful this year was that the  most frequently asked question by the participants was how to start a  business. "These are very positive trends that show us the direction  of development of our future activities," she said.

However, she noted that there is a high interest in cryptocurrencies,  in particular from the point of view of investment. In this vein, she  noticed that very often cryptocurrency processes can be attributed to  financial fraud. ''No one regulates this market, where everything is  so well represented that people are encouraged.  But the fact is that  cryptocurrency is most similar to gaming stakes. And when a person,  having no complete idea, invests in an unknown instrument, then in  case of loss of funds he or she turns to the state, "she noted,  warning that in this case the Central Bank is not authorized to  protect anyone's interests. "This trend also tells us that next year  there is a need to cover the topic related to cryptocurrency," A.  Mkrtchyan noted.  Speaking about financial literacy in the regions,  she noted that Yerevan is more active from this point of view. ''The  regional participants in our program mostly ask only about loans,  about how to get out of the black list (for overdue loans), how to  get another loan. At the same time, according to the results of the  seminars, it became clear that in most cases the villagers cannot  correctly assess the effectiveness of their investments, " the CBA  representative said.  In general, A. Mkrtchyan stated that she was  pleased with the implementation of the program, the activity of  participation in which was high. Registration took place through  social networks, and according to her, many were rejected to  participate, because the format of the program did not allow the  involvement of so many participants.

To note, in 2019 33 partners joined the program, including 11  financial organizations, 15 seminars were held, 4 open doors. With  the assistance of the American University of Armenia, 10 discussion  workshops were held in Gyumri, Vanadzor, Ijevan, Dilijan,  Yeghegnadzor. Traditional events were also held, including financial  and economic games-competitions, in which students from Yerevan  schools and 10 regions took part, and 2 competitions in drawing and  writing an article on a financial topic for Wikipedia.  The CBA  implements programs, the largest of which are "Financial Education in  Schools" and "Financial Education in Rural Areas", under which it is  envisaged to retrain 3 thousand teachers from 350 schools and 2  thousand people out of 100 villages.

In 2019, "My Finance Month" program partners were: the Ministry of  Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia, the Yerevan Mayor's  Office, the Office of the Financial System Mediator of the Republic  of Armenia, the Union of Banks of Armenia, the Deposit Guarantee  Fund, Evocabank, Armswissbank, AMX Stock Exchange, VTB (Armenia)  Bank, Artsakhbank, universal credit companies ''Gladzor'', ''Armenian  Development and Investment Corporation'', ''Global Credit'',  ''Kamurj'' and ''Finca'', C-QUADRAT Ampega Aset Managment Armenia and  Amundi-ACBA Aset Managment pension funds, ACBA Leasing company,  insurance companies ''Nairi Insurance'', ''Rosgosstrakh Armenia'',  ''INGO Armenia'', ''SIL Insurance'' and ''RESO'', the Union of  Artists of Armenia, National Center for Aesthetics, CB Visiting  Center, American University of Armenia.

To recall, the "My Finances Month" program was launched in Armenia on  the initiative of the CBA from October 1, 2014. The goal of the  program is to increase the financial literacy of citizens of  different age groups, change their attitudes and behavior towards  managing their finances.