The deposit and loan rates at Armenia's banks will keep dropping in 2014, Artak Hanesyan, Chairman of the Management Board-Director General of Ameriabank CJSC, said at a press conference on Friday.
He pointed out that the reduction in the yield of government bonds will by all means reduce the deposit rates, especially the AMD deposit rates.
As regards the rates of foreign exchange deposits, Hanesyan pointed out that he sees no direct relation between these rates and the yield of Eurobonds. "The rate of foreign exchange deposits is connected with the LIBOR rate. This year we do not expect LIBOR to grow. Hence, we suppose that the rates of foreign exchange deposits will not be rising", said Hanesyan.
According to the Central Bank of Armenia, in December 2013 the interest rates of deposits in the financial market of Armenia averaged 8.7%, and the loan rates made up 14.3%. As compared with December 2012, both indices dropped by 0.2 pct points. In Dec 2013 the yield of government bonds dropped from 13.7% to 9.9% as compared with Dec 2012. In particular, the yield of short-term government bonds fell from 10.4% to 8.2%, mid-term government bonds - from 14.3% to 10%, and long-term government bonds - from 16.3% to 11.6%.