Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenia's foreign exchange reserves have dropped by US$172 million to US$568 – a fall of 10% in total reserves – since the beginning of 2016, as reported by Haykakan Zhamanak daily newspaper. And although the overall decline in foreign reserves is not unusual for Armenia, according to the paper, such a rate can't be considered “traditional.”
The funds from the country's foreign reserves are usually used for foreign debt repayments, and for carrying out currency interventions in order to stabilize and maintain the exchange rate of dram.
“The simultaneous growth in Armenian's foreign debt is especially alarming. In the first quarter of this year alone, our external debt increased by 576 million dollars, standing at US$ 5.2 billion. In other words, during these months, our foreign reserves have registered a fall of 10%, while the debt has increased by 12%. Everything indicates that the existing negative trends in the Armenian economy will continue,” Haykakan Zhamanak writes.