BLACK CLOUDS GATHERING AROUND ARMENIAN DRAM? – NEWSPAPER
February 19, 2014 | 07:35
YEREVAN. – The Armenian national currency, the dram, is showing signs
of devaluation against the US dollar in recent weeks, Zhamanak daily
reports.
“The buying rate is lower, and the selling is conducted at higher
numbers. [But] this fluctuation is not significant and it has seasonal
character.
“In all likelihood, the dram will depreciate in the second half of
February of this year and in March, too. This is primarily due to the
fact that the foreign private remittances [to Armenia] sharply fall
in the first months of the year, since the bulk of the [Armenian]
migrant workers still have not gone to Russia. And it is in February
and in March that the migrant labor season begins. It is therefore
logical that those leaving change their drams before leaving.
“Nonetheless, there are factors that give reason to assume that the
dram may depreciate more than gaining value this year. The maintenance
of, or the drop in, the oil prices, [and] the subsequent inevitable
deterioration of the Russian economy reduce the quantity of the
dollars being transferred to Armenia; that is, our compatriots find
it hard to make a lot of money in Russia against the backdrop of the
slowdown in the economic growth of that country,” Zhamanak writes.
News from Armenia – NEWS.am
From: A. Papazian