ArmInfo.Armenia's gross international reserves (GIR) increased in September 2020 compared to September 2019 by 1.5% or by $ 35.7 million (against 12% growth in the previous year), amounting to $ 2.443 billion.
Foreign assets in hard currency dominate in the GIR structure - $ 2.405 bln., and the SDR share in the IMF accounts for $ 38.1 million. According to the report of the Central Bank of Armenia, foreign assets in hard currency reversed the y-o-y dynamics from 12.1% growth to a 0.1% decline, and the SDR share in the IMF jumped to 55-fold with the exit from last year's 58.4% decline.
In September 2020 alone, the GIR went into decline by 8.1% (or $ 215.5 million) from the August 1.5% growth. This was accompanied by a reversal of the trend of foreign assets in hard currency towards an 8.2% decline from 1.6% growth in August, and a delay in the decline in the share of SDR in the IMF from 3% to 4.2%. A year earlier, in September 2019, the GIR trend was upward (4.8%), due to a similar increase in foreign assets in hard currency (4.8%) with a noticeable 66.4% decline in the share of SDR in the IMF.
In January-September 2020, Armenia's gross international reserves decreased by 14.3% or $ 406.6 million (against growth by 6.6% a year earlier). In their structure, foreign assets in hard currency decreased by 15.4% (against 6.8% growth a year earlier), and the share of SDR in the IMF jumped 6.2-fold (against 88.6% decline a year earlier).
In the Q3 of 2020, the GIR of Armenia reversed the trend towards a downward 7.7% (or $ 205.1 million) from an ascending 2.6% in the II quarter, while a year earlier in the Q3 there was an acceleration of growth from 3.1 to 8. 4%. In the structure of GIR, foreign assets in hard currency decreased in Q3 by 7.4% (against 9% growth a year earlier), and the share of SDR in the IMF decreased by 25.4% (against a decline of 94.1% a year earlier). Moreover, in monthly terms, the decline in the GIR was recorded in January-April, in June-July and September, in particular, the largest decline was recorded in January (by 6.3%), followed by an increase in May (by 8.5%), but in June, the decline resumed with a slowdown in July, followed by growth in August, but in September the decline began again. And the share of SDR in the IMF decreased monthly during the first quarter, frozen at the same level in April, then jumped sharply in May, but in June again outlining a drawdown with a continued downtrend in July-September. To recall, in 2019, the gross international reserves of Armenia increased by 25.7%, with an increase in foreign assets in hard currency by 25.8% and the share of SDR in the IMF by 3%. In the Q4 of 2019, gross international reserves increased by 18%, with an increase in foreign assets in hard currency by 17.7% and a jump in the share of SDR in the IMF 9-fold. During 2019, an upward trend in the GIR was observed in February-March, June, August-October and December, similar to the periods of growth of foreign assets in hard currency, and the share of SDR in the IMF jumped only in May and October. It should be noted that the share of bank gold in the gross international reserves of Armenia was zeroed back in December 2003.