Monday, March 16 2020 20:18
Alina Hovhannisyan

The Central Bank of Armenia is ready to provide additional liquidity  to the financial system, if necessary

The Central Bank of Armenia is ready to provide additional liquidity  to the financial system, if necessary

ArmInfo. The Central Bank of Armenia, if necessary, is ready to provide the financial system with additional liquidity both in drams and in foreign currency. Head of  the Central Bank Artur Javadyan announced on March 16 at a meeting of  the Government of the Republic of Armenia, chaired by Prime Minister  Nikol Pashinyan.

He emphasized that the banking system of Armenia has a high level of  liquidity, which is more than sufficient to organize daily banking  operations in the normal mode. The head of the Central Bank noted  that today there are no problems, and the facts testify to this. "Due  to various kinds of statements, there was some instability in the  market, but now the situation is under control, and it can be said  that it is stable," he said.

Javadyan spoke about the agreement with the National Mortgage  Company, the Affordable Housing for Young Credit institution, and  with a third party represented by international partners that if the  bank changes the terms of the loan to the borrower, in particular  from the point of view of repayment or reduction of interest rates  (up to 6 months), then in turn these companies will also change the  conditions with banks.

In this context, the Prime Minister said that the government and the  Central Bank should continue to work together with business entities.  <The financial system of Armenia is stable and the liquidity level is  high.  Therefore, if necessary, the government and the Central Bank  will assist banks and the economy as a whole>, said Pashinyan. He  recalled that in 2019 the international currency reserves of Armenia  reached a record historical level, exceeding $ 2.8 billion, as well  as the purchase by the Central Bank of $ 560 million on the foreign  exchange interbank.

At the same time, the Prime Minister noted that in this situation,  the state sets itself the task of taking advantage of the  opportunities that will arise in view of the inevitable changes in  the global economy.  <According to our estimates, as a result of  economic processes, global GDP will suffer a decline of $ 2 trillion.  On the one hand, this is bad, but on the other hand it will form a  free market in which the Armenian business will have to increase its  presence>, the Prime Minister emphasized.

It should be noted that at present, 30 cases of coronavirus have been  detected in Armenia. In connection with the epidemiological  situation, from 6:30pm on March 16 the state of emergency was  introduced in the country, which will be valid until 17:00 on April  14.