In 2022, capital investment of Central Bank will amount to 7.3  billion drams, administrative expenses - 8.5 billion drams

ArmInfo.In 2022, the Central Bank of Armenia intends to significantly increase capital  investments - up to 7.3 billion drams. Deputy Governor of the Central  Bank of Armenia Nerses Yeritsyan announced this during the hearing of  the draft budget for 2022.

He explained that growth is due to strategic projects and the need to  replace certain elements of information and technology  infrastructures.

In particular, Yeritsyan referred to the creation of a Cybersecurity  Center and a Data Transfer Platform as important projects, which will  effectively eliminate cybersecurity risks in the financial system,  which have become especially aggravated last year.

At the same time, he drew attention to the need to introduce a system  for describing and improving processes, which may not reduce the  budget of the Central Bank in the long term, but will significantly  change the body and resolve the issue of human capital. According to  Yeritsyan, the latter represents a serious challenge in terms of the  development of the digital agenda and new technologies. Among the  projects of the first importance, the Deputy Governor of the Central  Bank also mentioned the modernization of the security network of the  Central Bank, and the introduction of a new system for calculating  and sorting paper money.

According to him, 63% (or 4.6 billion drams) will be allocated for  the implementation of these projects, and 26% (or 1.9 billion) - for  the re-equipment of servers, equipment, 260 million drams - for the  reconstruction of the Central Bank building and the installation of  solar panels, 102 million drams - to replace 6 official cars.

Nerses Yeritsyan also informed about the need to invest in the STAK  Money Transfer subsidiary company, which is a transfer system without  opening accounts, which was launched last year. According to him,  this system is quite promising, and can become a platform for quick  and convenient retail payments, including for digital users. "There  is a need to make capital investments for one more year, after which  the system will be able to cover its own expenses on its own,"  Yeritsyan said.

Speaking about the administrative expenses of the Central Bank, he  noted that an amount of 8.5 billion drams is envisaged for 2022,  which is 13% more than a year ago. Of this amount, 97% or 8.3 billion  drams will be directed to the maintenance of the expenses of the  Administration.  At the same time, the Deputy Governor of the Central  Bank spoke about the increase in the total wages fund or equivalent  funds - by 15%. As Yeritsyan explained, this is due to the need to  implement digital transformations, for the implementation of which it  will be necessary to attract international level specialists in the  fields of IT and cybersecurity.