ArmInfo.Armenia's gross international reserves in 2020 decreased by 8.2% (against an increase of 26.1% in 2019), amounting to $ 2.616 billion, according to the data of the Central Bank of Armenia.
Of these, the lion's share - $ 2.607 billion - falls on foreign assets in hard currency, and the share of SDR in the IMF was $ 9 million. According to the regulator's report, in 2020, foreign assets in hard currency decreased by 8.3%, and the share of SDR - by 46% against growth by 26.2% and 3.2%, respectively, in 2019.
In the fourth quarter of 2020 alone, gross international reserves grew by 6.8%, with an increase in foreign assets in hard currency by 8.1% and a decline in the share of SDR in the IMF by 76.1%. In the previous quarters, the dynamics were as follows: in the third quarter, international reserves decreased by 7.7%, while foreign assets in hard currency fell by 7.4% and the share of SDR in the IMF by 25.4%; in the second quarter, the growth of international reserves by 2.6% was accompanied by a 0.7% growth in foreign assets in hard currency and a jump in the share of SDR in the IMF 18.6-fold; in the first quarter, a 9.4% decline in international reserves was provoked by a decrease in foreign assets in hard currency by 9.3% and the share of SDR in the IMF - by 55.7%. A year earlier, in Q4 2019, the growth of gross international reserves by 18.4% was accompanied by an increase in foreign assets in hard currency by 18.1% and 9-fold increase in the share of SDR in the IMF.
In December 2020, gross international reserves increased by 14.8%, and in their structure, there was an increase in foreign assets in hard currency by 16.2%, while the share of SDR in the IMF fell by 74.6%. A year earlier, in December 2019, an increase in gross international reserves by 20% was accompanied by an almost similar increase in foreign assets in hard currency (by 20.1%), while the share of SDR in the IMF fell by 12.7%.
During 2020, the downward trend in the gross international reserves was observed in January-April, then in May an upward trend emerged, after which the decline resumed and continued until December. The share of SDR in the IMF also declined in the first four months, having jumped sharply in May, after which the decline resumed, with a monthly moderate decline observed in June-November, and a sharp one in December. Foreign assets in hard currency showed an upward trend in May, August and December.
To recall, at the end of 2019, Armenia's gross international reserves amounted to $ 2.850 billion, foreign assets in hard currency - $ 2.844 billion, and the share of SDR in the IMF - $ 6.2 million. The share of bank gold in Armenia's gross international reserves was zeroed in December 2003.
