ArmInfo. In Armenia's interbank foreign exchange market from January 12 to 16, 2026, there was continued high activity in dollar transactions, along with a surge in ruble transactions, while no euro transactions were carried out. Specifically, the growth of dollar transactions slowed slightly from 90% to 79%, while ruble transactions saw a significant turnaround from an 83% decline to a 7.8-fold increase.
This allowed dollar transactions to maintain their dominant weekly volume, doubling their volume over ruble transactions. Meanwhile, in the interbank foreign exchange market, dollar purchases increased during the reporting week (January 12-16, 2026 compared to January 5- 9, 2026), with accelerated sales growth. There was a notable jump in euro purchases accompanied by a slowdown in sales growth. Both ruble purchases and sales also saw a recovery from a decline to a significant increase.
As a result, from January 12-16, the dram strengthened against the dollar, going from AMD 382.5/$1 to AMD 380.5/$1. It also continued to strengthen against the euro, moving from AMD 444/1EUR to AMD 441.3/1EUR, and set for devaluation against the ruble, shifting from AMD 4.73/1RUB to AMD 4.84/1RUB. A year earlier, on January 16, 2025, the dram exchange rate against the dollar was AMD 399 drams/$1, against the euro - AMD 413.5 /1EUR, and against the ruble - AMD 3.86 /1RUB. Compared to current rates, it shows an annual revaluation of the dram against the dollar and a devaluation against the euro and ruble.
According to the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia, from January 12 to 16 of this year, there were four dollar transactions and three ruble transactions carried out in the interbank foreign exchange market, with simultaneous transactions taking place on Wednesday and Friday (January 14 and 16). As a result, the total weekly dollar transaction volume amounted to $17 million at an average exchange rate of AMD 380.30/$1 (compared to AMD 380.89/$1 the week before), while the total volume of ruble transactions amounted to 775 million rubles at an average exchange rate of AMD 4.84/1RUB (compared to AMD 4.76 /RUB the previous week). The peak dollar volume was on Tuesday (January 13) at $9 million, and the highest ruble volume occurred on Friday (January 16) at 450 million rubles.
In the interbank foreign exchange market from January 12 to 16, 2026, compared to the short week at the end of the previous year, the dollar buying trend went from a 12.8% decline to a 56.8% growth with an acceleration in sales growth from 10.1% to 25.8%. For euro transactions, there was a significant increase in buying from 54% to 2 times, accompanied by a slowdown in sales growth from 35% to 22.4%. As for ruble transactions, both buying and selling went from a 40-19% decline to a significant growth of 3.1-2.7 times.
As a result, during the reporting week, $135.5 million was purchased at an average rate of AMD 378.78 /$1, 55.6 million euros at an average rate of AMD 439.34 /1EUR, and 10.6 billion rubles at an average rate of 4.79 /1 RUB, and $183.4 million were sold at an average rate of AMD 381.69/$1, 56.1 million euros at an average rate of AMD 446.05/1EUR, and 2.9 billion rubles at an average rate of 4.88 dr/1RUB. The largest volume of ruble sales occurred on Monday (January 12 - 987.3 million rubles). On Tuesday the maximum volumes of ruble purchases and euro sales were recorded (January 13 - 2.8 billion rubles and 12.9 million euros) and on Wednesday the highest volume of dollar purchases was recorded (January 14 - $38.4 million). The maximum volumes of dollar sales and euro purchases were recorded on Friday (January 16 - $39.04 million, 17.8 million euros). According to the Central Bank of Armenia, in the 10 months of 2025, the Central Bank intervened in the foreign exchange market in the amount of $1.419 billion from February to October, strengthening the exchange rate from AMD 394.19 /$1 in February to AMD 383.44 /$1 in October. These were only purchases.
In the interbank foreign exchange market, in the 10 months of 2025, $6.1 billion, 1.7 billion euros, and 592.8 billion rubles were purchased, while $8.9 billion, 2.7 billion euros, and 149.9 billion rubles were sold. This resulted in a buying rate of AMD 381.49/$1, AMD 442.11/1EUR, and AMD 4.69 /1 RUB in the interbank foreign exchange market in October, and a selling rate of AMD 383.69/$1, AMD 448.83/1 EUR, and AMD 4.79 /1 RUB, compared to December 2024 rates of AMD 394.84/$1, AMD 413.75/1 EUR, and AMD 3.84/1RUB for buying, and AMD 398.16/$1, AMD 420.09 /1 EUR, and AMD 3.97/1RUB for selling.
In the 10 months of 2025, dollar transactions worth over $485 million and ruble transactions worth 32.1 billion rubles were concluded in the interbank foreign exchange market. Euro transactions were concluded only in February-March and May for a total of 1.9 million euros. This was accompanied by a weakening of the dram against the ruble in the interbank foreign exchange market to AMD 4.72/1RUB in October and a strengthening against the dollar to AMD 383.17/ $1, compared to AMD 3.84/1RUB and AMD 396.1/ $1 in December 2024, respectively. In the interbank currency market for this period, the largest volume of dollar transactions was concluded in January ($81 million), ruble transactions in May (7.7 billion rubles), and euro transactions in February (1 million euros).
After eight years of "silence," the currency exchange platform resumed operations in June 2024. Over the five-month period (June-October), dollar transactions totaling $14.7 million were conducted, with the dram strengthening from AMD 388.9 /$1 in June to AMD 387.75 $1 in October. In November- December 2024, the foreign exchange platform was idle. Then, in 2025, over the seven months of 2025, dollar transactions totaling $10.1 million were conducted on the foreign exchange platform, with the dram strengthening from AMD 398.75/$1 in January to AMD 384.09/$1 in July. The currency exchange market was active during the seven months under review, reaching its peak monthly volume in July - $3.3 million.
Recall, ruble transactions in the Armenian interbank currency market started on March 14, 2022. From that point until the end of the year, transactions totaling 8.7 billion rubles were conducted, with an additional 17.5 billion rubles for the entire 2023. This was accompanied by a weakening of the dram against the ruble in the interbank foreign exchange market from March to December 2022, from AMD 4.86 to AMD 5.8/1RUB. However, the dram subsequently strengthened against the ruble to AMD 4.47/1RUB by the end of 2023 and further to AMD 3.84/1RUB by the end of 2024. However, since 2025, the dram has once again begun to weaken against the ruble. By the mid-year mark, it had reverted to the initial exchange rate of AMD 4.86 /1RUB in the interbank foreign exchange market.
Recall, ruble transactions in the Armenian interbank currency market started on March 14, 2022. From that point until the end of the year, transactions totaling 8.7 billion rubles were conducted, with an additional 17.5 billion rubles for the entire 2023. This was accompanied by a weakening of the dram against the ruble in the interbank foreign exchange market from March to December 2022, from AMD 4.86 to AMD 5.8/1RUB. However, the dram subsequently strengthened against the ruble to AMD 4.47/1RUB by the end of 2023 and further to AMD 3.84/1RUB by the end of 2024. However, since 2025, the dram has once again begun to weaken against the ruble. By the mid-year mark, it had reverted to the initial exchange rate of AMD 4.86 /1RUB in the interbank foreign exchange market
