ArmInfo. Armenia's gross international reserves in January- October 2020 decreased by 18.7% - to $ 2.316 billion. In y-o-y terms (October 2020 versus October 2019), this indicator decreased by 6.2%, and in October alone - by 5.2%. This is evidenced by the data of the Central Bank of Armenia.
In the structure of reserves, $ 2.278 billion is foreign assets in hard currency, which sagged by 7.4% in y-o- y terms (October 2020 to October 2019), and in January-October alone - by 19.9%. The share of SDR in the IMF amounted to $ 38.2 million, having grown 4.6-fold in y-o-y terms, with a 6.2-fold rise in January- October of this year and a sharp jump was observed in May, after which there was a reduction.
In October 2020 alone, foreign assets in hard currency sank by 5.3%, while growth of the share of SDR in the IMF increased insignificantly - by only 0.3%.
Moreover, in monthly terms, the decline in the gross international reserves was recorded in January-April, in June-July and September-October, 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 the decline resumed since September. 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 subsidence with a continued downtrend in July-September, followed by a scanty increase in October.
To note for comparison that in January-October 2019 gross international reserves increased by 9.3%. In their structure, external assets in hard currency increased by 9.2%, while the share of SDR in the IMF increased by 38.1%. The annual dynamics at that time (October 2019 to October 2018) looked as follows: gross international reserves increased by 18.5%, with almost the same growth in foreign assets in hard currency (by 18.2%) and a 5.1-fold jump in the share of SDR in the IMF. In October 2019, an increase in international reserves by 2.5% was triggered by an almost similar increase in foreign assets in hard currency (by 2.2%) and a 12- fold jump in the share of SDR in the IMF.
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 quarter IV of 2019, gross international reserves increased by 18%, with an increase in foreign assets in hard currency by 17.7% and a 9-fold jump in the share of SDR in the IMF. During 2019, an upward trend in the gross international reserves 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.
