YEREVAN, July 13. /ARКА/. Armenia’s international foreign exchange reserves have reached a record high, but their sufficiency to cover the country’s external needs in the medium term will remain below the average for countries with similar credit ratings, according to a report by the international rating agency Fitch Ratings.
“Foreign exchange reserves reached a record USD 5.9 billion at the end of May, as the Central Bank of Armenia purchased USD in the domestic market,” the report notes.
Fitch also notes that the country’s high import needs will limit its reserve adequacy ratio.
According to the agency’s forecast, by 2028, Armenia’s international reserves will cover only 3.6 months of current external payments. This is significantly below the median for countries with a sovereign rating in the ‘BB’ category, which is 4.5 months. On June 18, Armen Nurbekyan, Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia, announced that Armenia’s international reserves had reached a record high of over $5.7 billion. According to him, since the beginning of the year alone, the Central Bank has acquired approximately $1.1 billion in foreign exchange reserves.
Earlier, Martin Galstyan, Governor of the Central Bank of Armenia, announced that the regulator had reviewed its approach to managing international reserves and had decided not to include gold in its updated reserve strategy.
