ArmInfo. In the Armenian interbank foreign exchange market, dollar transactions declined, while ruble transactions soared from May 18 to 22, 2026. Euro transactions haven't been conducted for over three months. Specifically, the trend in dollar transactions reversed from a 45.2% increase to a 74.4% drop, while the trend in ruble transactions reversed from a 23.1% decline to a significant 6.6-fold increase.
This allowed the weekly volume of ruble transactions to regain dominance over dollar trades by a significant 16-fold margin, compared to the previous week's almost twofold margin.
In parallel, in the intrabank foreign exchange market during the reporting week (May 18-22, 2026 compared to May 11-15, 2026), USD buying slowed in growth while the sales trend reversed towards a decline. Both buying and selling volumes for the euro began to shrink. Conversely, for ruble transactions, a rebound in buying was accompanied by an accelerated growth in sales.
As a result, from May 18 to 22, 2026, the AMD continued to strengthen against the USD, from AMD 367.5 to AMD366.5/$1, and the EUR, from AMD 429.5 to AMD 426.8/1EUR, while weakening even further against the RUB, from AMD 4.91 to AMD 5.08/1 RUB. A year earlier, on May 22, 2025, the exchange rate of AMD to USD was AMD 384 /$1, to EUR – AMD 434/1 EUR, and to RUB – AMD 4.79 /1 RUB. Compared to current rates, this indicates an annual revaluation of the dram against the dollar and euro of 5% and 2%, respectively, and a devaluation against the ruble of 5%.
According to the Central Bank of Armenia, in the interbank foreign exchange market from May 18 to 22 of this year, ruble transactions were conducted daily and dollar transactions were conducted only three times, with both dollar and ruble transactions occurring from Tuesday to Thursday (May 19-21). As a result, the total weekly volume of dollar transactions amounted to $3 million at an average rate of AMD 368.33 /$1 (compared to AMD 368.70/$1 the week before), while the total weekly volume of ruble transactions jumped to 3.456 billion rubles at an average rate of AMD 5.13/1RUB (compared to AMD 4.99 /1RUB the week before). The maximum volume of ruble transactions occurred on Tuesday (May 19) - 1.075 billion rubles, while the volume of dollar transactions was the same (May 19-21) - $1 million each.
In the interbank foreign exchange market from May 18 to 22, 2026, compared to the previous week (11- 15.05.26), the growth of USD purchases slowed down from 24% to 15.1% with a reversal of the sales trend from 35.4% growth towards a 16.5% decline. The trend of euro purchases and sales reversed from 2.6- 36.6% growth towards a 5.2-29.3% decline, and for ruble transactions, the exit of the buying trend from an 11.7% decline to 49.8% growth was accompanied by an acceleration of growth from 10.2% to 22.8%. As a result, during the reporting week, over $225 million was purchased at an average rate of AMD 366.46 /$1, 37.5 million euros at an average rate of AMD 424.27/1EUR, and 13.1 billion rubles at an average rate of AMD 5.02/1RUB. Additionally, $216.6 million was sold at an average rate of AMD 369.07/$1, 54.1 million euros at an average rate of AMD 430.92/1EUR, and over 3.3 billion rubles at an average rate of AMD 5.17/1RUB. During the reporting week, the highest dollar purchases and euro sales were recorded on Monday (May 18 - $65.6 million and 12.7 million euros, respectively). Tuesday saw the highest euro purchases (May 19 - 8.5 million) and Wednesday saw the highest ruble purchases (May 20 - over 3 billion). Thursday saw the highest dollar sales (May 21 - $53.2 million). On Friday, the highest ruble sales (May 21 – 51.4 billion) were recorded.
According to the Central Bank of Armenia, in Q1 2026, the Central Bank intervened in the foreign exchange market for $603.1 million, strengthening the exchange rate from AMD381.49/$1 in December to AMD 378.63/$1 in March. These were only purchases.
In the intra-bank foreign exchange market in Q1 2026, $1.97 billion, 479.2 million euros and 95.2 billion rubles were purchased, and $2.23 billion, 642 million euros and 41.7 billion rubles were sold. This resulted in a buying rate of AMD 376.10 /$1, AMD 433.44/1EUR, and AMD 4.67/1 RUB in the interbank foreign exchange market in March, while the selling rate was AMD 378.49/$1, AMD 439.42 1EUR, and AMD 4.74 /1RUB, compared to December 2025 buying rates of AMD 380.38/$1, AMD 442.74/1EUR, and AMD 4.83/1RUB, and selling rates of AMD382.62/$1, AMD 449.26 /1EUR, and AMD 4.91/1RUB.
In the interbank foreign exchange market in Q1 2026, USD transactions totaled $107.2 million, EUR transactions totaled 5.3 million, and RUB transactions totaled 7.2 billion. Moreover, no euro transactions were executed in March. During this period, the dram strengthened against the ruble to AMD 4.65 /1RUB and against the dollar to AMD 378.18/$1 in the interbank foreign exchange market, up from AMD 4.88 /1RUB and AMD 381.33/$1 in December 2025, respectively.
Recall, ruble transactions in the Armenian interbank foreign exchange market began on March 14, 2022. On the currency exchange platform, dollar transactions totaling $17.3 million were executed in Q1 quarter 2026, accompanied by a strengthening of the dram to AMD 378.19/$1 in March, up from AMD 387.75 /$1 in October, which was the last time dollar operations had appeared on the exchange floor a year earlier.
