YEREVAN, April 20. /ARKA/. The Union of Banks of Armenia, in its statement released on Monday, urges everybody to refrain from speculation about the country’s banking system amid the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19.
The reason for such a statement was the speech of Hrach Berberyan, the chairman of the Agrarian-Rural Union of Armenia, aired on one of the Armenian TV channels, in which he criticized the lending system in Armenia.
In particular, he noted that the government attracts soft loans at a rate of 0.5% from international organizations and, instead of directly giving them to farmers, provides them to banks, which artificially increase rates to 14% or more. Berberyan believes that the position of banks and high rates undermine the agricultural sector.
“The banking sector, based on the peculiarities of its activities, is the most regulated and strictly controlled, as it carries out activities for the general population, and is also important for the country and the economy,” the Union of Banks said in its statement.
Moreover, the UBA noted that the banking system is completely transparent and all the information necessary for the population is widely available, and experts in the field periodically provide information to the public and, if necessary, provide relevant explanations based on figures and facts.
“At the same time, the banking system has always been and remains an object of unreasonable criticism and misinformation, which is sometimes due to the lack of financial literacy, and sometimes existing or perceived problems are simply used to manipulate to obtain “points” in the eyes of the population for any purpose,” the Union of Banks says in the statement.
The union also says that it is obvious that in amid economic and financial crises, the banking system all over the world is becoming the focus of attention. It is becoming more sensitive, and in some ways even vulnerable. For the majority of the population issues related to this system are given priority.
In recent days, in connection with the current situation, the media has intensified publications on the activities of the financial institutions.
“The positive results achieved over many years are overshadowed by “experts” who are not only not professionals in the field of finance and banking, but in some cases do not even have basic system knowledge,” the union says in its statement.
Instead, they use the media and other platforms to express their unprofessional views on a particular topic, misinforming and misleading some people, and in some cases also generating erroneous expectations, distracting them from the search for real solutions that arise problems.
“Taking this into account, we urge in the current situation to refrain from unreasonable speculations, unprofessional evaluations and “analytics”. We advise our compatriots to listen to the opinion of specialists in this field in order to obtain the necessary and high-quality information, follow their recommendations, and, if necessary, contact a service bank. This will allow avoiding misunderstandings and taking the only right and profitable direction,” the statement said. -0-
