ArmInfo. Armenia's gross international reserves (GIR) increased by 2.3% or $82.4 million in 2024, exceeding $3.684 billion, while in 2023 a decline of 12.4% or $509.9 million was recorded - to $3.602 billion.
The quarterly dynamics of GIR demonstrated a weakening of growth in the fourth quarter from 6.5% to 3.1% (or $110.7 million), and this is despite the fact that growth in December alone was higher than both the annual and quarterly, amounting to 4.3% (or $150.9 million). And despite some growth, the value of the GMR did not reach the historical maximum of $4.2 billion recorded in August 2023.
This is evidenced by the data of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia. In particular, the growth of the GMR for 2024 was due to a similar increase in external assets in foreign currency by 2.2% to $3.682 billion, and a jump in the share of SDR in the IMF by 4 times to $2 million, while in 2022 there was a decline in both the former by 12.3% and the latter by 92%. It is worth recalling that it was in 2023 that both the GMR and external assets in foreign currency reached a new record level in August - $4.220 billion and $4.216 billion, respectively, and the historical maximum of the share of SDR in the IMF was recorded two years earlier - $178.2 million in August 2021.
Similarly, the weakening of quarterly growth of GMR (for the fourth quarter) came from a slowdown in the growth of external assets in foreign currency to 3.3%, with a deterioration in the dynamics of the share of SDR in the IMF to a 78.5% decline, while in the third quarter there was a higher growth of the former by 6.6% accompanied by an increase in the latter by 20.5%. Meanwhile, a year earlier in the fourth quarter of 2023, a deterioration in the dynamics of GMR was recorded from 6.6% growth to 13.5% decline, as a result of a similar reversal of the trend of external assets in foreign currency from 6.8% growth to 13.5% decline, with a slowdown in the decline of the share of SDR in the IMF from 94% to 12.6%.
In December alone, the dynamics of the GMR improved due to the trend of external assets in hard currency moving from a 2% decline to a 4.6% growth, with a reversal of the trend of the share of SDR in the IMF in the opposite direction - from 42% growth to an 85% decline.
During 2024, a decline in the GMR and external assets in hard currency was observed in January-April, after which the GMR and external assets in hard currency began to grow monthly until August inclusive, but then from September they either decreased or increased monthly, never recovering by the end of the year to a historically high level. And the share of SDR in the IMF showed growth only in January (by 116 times), May (by 2 times), August (by 2 times) and November (by 1.5 times).
Armenia's gross international reserves (GIR) decreased by 12.4% or $509.9 million in 2023, amounting to $3.602 billion, while in 2022 there was an increase of 27.3% or $882 million, to $4.112 billion. In particular, external assets in foreign currency decreased by 12.3% to $3.601 billion, with a 92% decline in the share of SDR in the IMF to $0.5 million, while in 2022 there was an increase of 28.4% in the former and a decline of 81.3% in the latter. It is worth noting that for 2023, both the GMR and external assets in foreign currency reached a new record high in August - $4.220 billion and $4.217 billion, respectively, and the historical maximum of the SDR share in the IMF was recorded two years earlier - $178.2 million in August 2021. The share of bank gold in Armenia's GMR was reset to zero back in December 2003.
Recall that in mid-December 2024, the IMF Executive Board, following the 4th SBA review, approved the provision of a stand-by loan to Armenia in the amount of SDR 18.4 million (about $24.12 million), as a result of which the total access amount reached SDR 92 million (about $120.59 million). The International Monetary Fund approved this three-year precautionary Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) facility for Armenia in the amount of SDR 128.8 million on December 13, 2022, making available SDR 18.4 million immediately, with the remainder to be disbursed following final reviews of six semi-annual periods.
