DOLLAR’S EXCHANGE RATE FALLS BELOW 400 DRAMS
YEREVAN, AUGUST 8, NOYAN TAPAN. The appreciation of the Armenian dram
gathered a new speed recently. On August 8, the dollar’s exchange rate
fell below 400 drams: a US dollar can be bought for 398 drams. The
exchange rates of the Russian ruble and the euro are also declining:
up to 14.8 and 527 drams respectively. The current dram/dollar exhange
rate is an unprecedented one for the past 12 months. The price of a
US dollar made about 400 drams in November 1994 and October 1995. It
was the first relatively stable exchange rate of the Armenian currency
following the dram’s rapid decline about six months after its being put
in circulation. At the moment of its putting in circulation (November
1993), the dram’s exchange rate was set at 14 drams against one dollar,
which was excessively high as was later revealed. From mid 1994, the
Armenian dram depreciated against the US dollar (with some deviations
from this tendency). The tendency changed in the first months of 2004
when the dram started strengthening slowly. The highest price of the
dollar (about 590 drams) was registered in February-March 2004.