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.
