YEREVAN, September 5,/ ARKA/. Exposure to exchange rate volatility is the key risk to debt dynamics in the medium term, given that 64.7% of gross general government debt (GGGD) was foreign-currency denominated at end-June (current ‘B’ median: 63.4%), Fitch ratings said in a press release.
Fitch projects the substantial appreciation of the dram vs the US dollar in 2022 and strong nominal GDP growth will reduce GGGD/GDP by nearly 10pp to 50.5%, but that subsequent depreciation could lift it back to around 54% in 2023-24.
Armenia’s total public debt stood at about $9,931,796,000 as of June 30, 2022, having grown by $351,342,000 from the previous month, according to the numbers, released by the National Statistical Committee (NSC).
On December 31, 2021, the country’s total public debt was $9,225,643,000. If calculated in Armenian drams, the overall public debt decreased by about 251,737,400 drams from late May, 2022 to 4,055,251,800 drams. On December 31, 2021 it was worth 4,429,600,000 drams.
According to the NSC, of the total public debt about $6,495,892,000 were the external debt of the government, which dropped by $37,021,000 from late May 2022, while domestic debt in late June 2022 increased by $388,363,000 to about $3,435,905,000.
In Armenian drams the external debt decreased by 284,598,800 to 2,652,337,600, while the domestic debt increased by 32,861,400 to about 1,402,914,200 drams.
The government’s external debt decreased by $73,815,000 to $, 5,954,023,000 as of late June 2022. In dram equivalent, the government’s debt decreased by 278,788,000 to 2, 431, 087, 3000 drams.
The debt of the Central Bank increased by about $36,794,000 to $541,868,000. In dram equivalent it dropped by 221,250,200 to 5,810,800,000 drams.
Of the domestic debt, some $3, 158, 907,000 (an increase of $358,437,000) were owed to resident holders of government bonds. Some $236,961,000 were owed to holders of the government’s Eurobonds (an increase of $28,765,000). Also, $13,036,000 were owed as domestic guarantees, an increase of $1,161,000. – 0-
