YEREVAN, November 27. /ARKA/. The devaluation of the dram observed in Armenia in recent days is mainly based on a psychological factor – changes in human expectations and behavior, Babken Tunyan, an MP from the My Step faction and the head of the standing parliamentary committee on economic issues, said on Thursday answering media questions.
He explained that the exchange rate was affected by several factors. Economically things remain unchanged – imports, exports, dollar inflows and remittances from Russia or other countries have not changed significantly.
“There is one problem here – public sentiments, which led to certain behavioral changes. It is also important that at a certain stage they had a chain effect: the expectation of uncertainty usually leads to distrust of their own currency. And in such conditions, people are trying to convert their dramas into dollars. In the process, an artificial shortage of foreign currency, which also leads to a chain reaction,” Tunyan said.
The head of the committee said that the central bank has sufficient resources, funds and tools to regulate the currency exchange, the rate of which has stabilized enough over the past two days.
He also noted that the largest toolkit is in the hands of the society. “If we are calmer in our actions, if we do not panic and spread the panic, the exchange rate will return to its normal position,” the MP said.
The average market rate of the US dollar against the Armenian dram, formed in the Armenian foreign exchange market on November 26, as compared with the indicator on November 25, dropped by 3.57 drams to 508.12 drams.
Meanwhile, a week ago, on November 19, the rate of the American currency overcame the psychological barrier of 500 drams and the dollar traded for 500.82 drams per $ 1. The last time such a rate was recorded was in March 2020. –0–
