YEREVAN, September 15. /ARKA/. There is no liquidity shortage in Armenia, but the question remains about whether businesses meet investor requirements, according to Central Bank Chairman Martin Galstyan.
“Today, Armenia has excess liquidity, meaning there is a huge amount of money. And people and businesses that are ready to attract financial resources have ambitious projects and are open and transparent. They should submit applications, attract these excess resources, and implement their business projects, because the money is there, the infrastructure is there, and they should take advantage of it,” he said at a press conference on Tuesday, answering ARKA’s question about whether the regulator agrees with market participants’ statements that insufficient liquidity is one of the main obstacles to capital market development.
Commenting on the economy’s continued dependence on bank lending, noted by market participants, Galstyan stated that businesses don’t necessarily need to resort to bank loans. He noted that many private sector representatives have already begun issuing bonds.
“If they want to pursue bonds and debt instruments, they can: there are issuers, underwriters, an exchange, and ample liquidity. If they want to pursue equity financing, that’s also possible,” he said.
At the same time, the head of the Central Bank emphasized that projects must be high-quality, as investor requirements are changing, and investors themselves are reaching a higher level.
“And they demand that you have an audit, a rating, a certain level of transparency, and the ability to conduct dialogue. In other words, we still have these problems,” he concluded.
Earlier, Gor Gevorgyan, CEO of investment company Landmark Capital, stated in an interview with ARKA news agency that Armenia’s economic financing is still largely based on bank lending. He cited insufficient liquidity as one of the main constraints to further capital market development.
