YEREVAN, May 21. /ARKA/. Armenia’s banking sector has passed the test to destruction with flying colors and has proven to be stable, Ashot Osipyan, chairman of Araratbank’s board, said Friday at the discussion organized by the Club of Economic Journalists.
“The recent political events have become a serious exam for the Armenian baking system, and we have successfully passed it,” he said.
In his words, now the banking sector development will depend on changes in the real sector of the country’s economy.
Osipyan said that in recent years, the banking sector was developing vigorously amid a quite weak real sector.
“If we manage to record development in the economy, the banking sector will have outstripping growth,” he said.
The Araratbank board chairman also said that Armenian banks are able to attract as much financial resources from outside markets as necessary to develop the country’s economy.
“In the complicated political situation, Armenia banks have attracted not only creditors, but also shareholders, and this shows the banking system’s stability,” he said.
Armenian banks’ have attracted considerable financial means from the outside over a period between mid-April and early May.
In particular, Araratbank has sealed a $20-million loan agreement with Dutch FMO, and Ardshinbank, in cooperation with Commerzbank and the Asian Development Bank, has attracted $10 million.
At the same period, the Asian Development Bank and Ameriabank have signed an agreement to acquire a share participation amounting to $30 million, Ameriabank has signed a $30 million loans agreement with the Eurasian Bank for Reconstruction and Development to support SMEs and Dutch financial company agRIF Coopeartief U.A has acquired 10% of Inecobank’s shares. –0—
