YEREVAN, May 20. /ARKA/. At the end of the first quarter of 2021 the total bank deposits in Armenia were 4.9% or 173 billion drams up from the same time span of 2020 standing at 3.7 trillion drams, Executive Director of the Union of Banks of Armenia (UBA) Seyran Sargsyan said at a press conference on May 19.
He said at the beginning of 2020, the deposit were growing, but after the coronavirus pandemic they began to decline, and began to grow again at the end of May and during the summer. After the war in Nagorno-Karabakh they decreased slightly again, however when the hostilities were over they began to grow again.
He said also the deposits held by residents increased in the first quarter by 9.9% from the same time span of 2020, while deposits held by non-residents decreased by 8.2% from the first quarter of past year.
“A similar trend is being observed all over the world, when deposits of non-residents from developing countries return to their countries. This is normal in the context of the existing global uncertainties,” Sargsyan said.
He noted also that deposits in foreign currency accounted for 53% of the total in quarter 1, 2021 and those in Armenian drams – for 47%. ($1 – 522.09 drams) -0-
