YEREVAN, November 1. /ARKA/. Substantial and sustained changes are required in Armenian banking system, head of the country’s Union of Local Manufacturers Vazgen Safaryan told a press conference Thursday.
An 8% re-financing rate is extremely high, which has a negative impact on lending prospects and development of economy, despite the inflation relief measures taken by the Central Bank, Safaryan said.
The Union of Local Manufacturers keeps bringing up the issue and fighting for reduced refinancing rate, Safaryan said. At the same time, the Union cooperates and will continue cooperating with the Central Bank.
The Council of the Central Bank of Armenia left the 8% refinancing rate unchanged at its meeting of October 9.
Earlier, Ameriabank’s Development Director Tigran Jrbashyan made a statement that within the next few months the Central Bank may resort to relief measures and reduce the refinancing rate due to current optimistic developments and no worsening trends recorded in the European Union.
0.8% inflation was recorded in September 2012 bringing the 12-month inflation level to 2.5%, which is just the lower end of the permissible range.–0–
