The Armenian Dram (AMD) devaluation in early 2014 is due to the Russian Ruble (RUR) depreciation, Artur Stepanyan, member of the Council of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), said at today's press conference when replying to ArmInfo's question.
"AMD devaluation against USD traditionally takes place in Q1 each year due to servicing of the current account of the balance of payments. This year, however, the RUR devaluation should also be added to that", said Stepanyan. He added that the drop of the RUR/USD exchange rate causes negative expectations in Armenia.
He pointed out that the RUR devaluation is going on due to the 2015 switch to the inflation targeting policy, whereas the CBA switched to the "floating rate" as early as in 2006. "After Armenia's accession to the Customs Union, the republic will face no problems related to unification of exchange regulation", he said and added the accession to the Customs Union will strengthen the Russian ruble in Armenia, because economic entities will start making transactions in rubles. Stepanyan added that the current agenda includes no issues of Armenia's transition to the ruble zone within the Customs Union.
To note, in early 2014 the AMD/USD devaluation made up 2%, with the average exchange rate rising from 405 AMD/1 USD to 414 AMD/1 USD.