ArmInfo.The composition of Armenia's exports may change. Head of the Central Bank of Armenia Martin Galstyan expressed this opinion during a press conference on May 3.
He noted that there are now a certain number of "international visitors" in Armenia who are not classified as tourists and do not belong to other categories due to insufficient information. According to him, the arrival of these people has led to a situation where the external demand for the services provided in Armenia has grown. <This assumes that our services have become exportable. When these people spend their money in restaurants, other places of recreation, this is considered an increase in exports in terms of Armenia's balance of payments>, he explained.
As Galstyan noted, this development led to a progressive growth of foreign exchange funds in terms of supply and demand, which led to a certain revaluation of the dram. According to the head of the Central Bank, in connection with the created realities, it is necessary to understand how long these people will stay in Armenia and what are the goals of their stay. This challenge was also taken into account in today's decision to leave the refinancing rate unchanged (9.25%). " Observing the further actions of these <immigrants> will allow us to understand what the economic consequences of this may be, the reflection of which we will see in the foreign exchange market," he said.
As the head of the Central Bank noted, according to the latest data, citizens of Russia and other countries have opened 16,000 accounts in Armenian banks, a significant part of which are registered by individuals. From the point of view of the currency component, Galstyan suggested that the vast majority of accounts are opened in Russian rubles, since the majority of "international visitors" are citizens of the Russian Federation.