YEREVAN, October 29. /ARKA/. An increase in the refinancing rate does not necessarily mean higher loan prices, stated Martin Galstyan, Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia.
He attributed this to a competitive factor.
“There will be banks that, for example, have sufficient liquidity reserves and will decide that even if the Central Bank raises the interest rate that is, the cost of short-term money they have enough liquidity to maintain the pricing of their loan products,” Galstyan said in an interview with Hetq.
On the other hand, he added, there will be banks that can change the pricing of their loan products.
“And, naturally, we will see the changes that will occur in a competitive market,” he said.
On September 15, Galstyan did not rule out the possibility of raising interest rates on loans, given the Central Bank Board’s decision to raise the refinancing rate by 0.25 percentage points to 6.75%.
The Board of the Central Bank of Armenia will make its next decision on the refinancing rate on November 3. Given this, Galstyan refrained from making any predictions regarding this decision.
