ArmInfo. Armenia's gross international reserves (GIS) in September 2021 compared to September 2020 increased by 30.3% or by $ 742.4 million (versus 1.7% growth a year earlier), amounting to $ 3.192 billion.
Foreign assets in hard currencies dominate in the structure of GIS - $ 3.127 billion, and the share of SDR in the IMF accounts for $ 63.6 million. According to the report of the RA Central Bank, foreign assets in hard currency accelerated the y-o-y growth from 0.2% to 29.7%, while the share of SDR in the IMF, on the contrary, slowed down growth from 6.5-fold to 67.1%.
In September 2021 alone, GIS declined by 0.7% (or $ 23.6 million) from the August 4.4% growth. This was accompanied by a reversal of the trend in the share of SDR in the IMF towards a 64.3% decline from the August 34-fold increase, while the dynamics of foreign assets in hard currency changed from the 1.2% decline to 3% growth. A year earlier, in September 2019, the GIS trend was upward (4.8%), due to a similar growth 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 2021, Armenia's gross international reserves increased by 22% or by $ 576 million (against a decline of 14.1% a year earlier). In their structure, foreign assets in hard currency increased by 20% (against a 15.2% decline a year earlier), and the share of SDR in the IMF increased 7.1-fold (against a 6.2-fold increase a year earlier).
In Q3 2021, the GIS of Armenia remained in growth with a slowdown from 3.5% to 2.5% (or by $ 77.7 million), while in Q3 2020 there was a trend reversal from 2.6% growth to 7.5% decline (against the acceleration of growth from 3.1 to 8.4% in Q3 2019). In the structure of GIS, foreign assets in hard currency slowed down from 3.1% to 0.9% (versus 7.4% decline in Q3 2020 and 9% growth in Q3 2019), and the share of SDR in the IMF remained 4.6-fold high growth rates (against a 25.4% decline in Q3 2020 and a 94.1% decline in Q3 2019).
During 9 months of 2021, the decrease in the GIS was observed in March, April, July and September. The decline in foreign assets in hard currency was also recorded in March-April and July-August. And the share of SDR in the IMF showed growth only in April and August, and the increase in August was noticeable, and in the rest of the months there was a downtrend.
It should be noted that on August 23, 2021, the largest ever SDR allocation by the International Monetary Fund in the amount of $ 650 billion came into force. As IMF Resident Representative in Armenia, Mehdi Raissi told ArmInfo, according to the distribution of SDR to the promptly paid quotas of the IMF members, in the case of Armenia, the allocated amount amounted to SDR 123.4 million (about $ 175.2 million, using the SDR cost as of August 24).
To recall, at the end of 2020, Armenia's gross international reserves amounted to $ 2.616 billion, foreign assets in hard currency - $ 2.607 billion, and the share of SDR in the IMF - $ 9 million. In 2020, the GDP decreased by 8.2% (against an increase of 26.1% in 2019), foreign assets in hard currency - by 8.3%, and the share of SDR - by 46%, against an increase of 26.2% and 3.2% respectively in 2019. During 2020, the downward trend in the GIS was observed in January-April, then in May an upward trend emerged, after which the decline resumed, persisting until December. The share of SDR in the IMF also declined in the first four months, having increased sharply in May, after which the decline resumed, with a monthly moderate drawdown observed in June-November, and a sharp one in December. Foreign assets in hard currency showed an upward trend in May, August and December. The share of bank gold in the gross international reserves of Armenia was zeroed back in December 2003.
