Author: Khondkarian Raffi

UC RUSAL’S ARMENIAN FOIL MILL RUNNING AT FULL CAPACITY

Interfax
March 4 2009
Russia

UC RUSAL’s Armenal foil mill in Armenia is now running at full capacity
for 25,000 tonnes of aluminum foil per year.

Armenal has produced and sold around 30,000 tonnes of foil since the
beginning of 2007, when an overhaul was completed, UC RUSAL said.

Armenal will start shipping foil to the Middle East and Africa in
addition to the United States and European Union in the near future.

Foil is still in demand in almost all spheres of application, despite
the global drop in demand for primary aluminum.

"Reaching design capacity at Armenal will allow RUSAL’s Packaging
Division to satisfy demand for rolled foil products which is growing
among other reasons because of the reduction of foil production in
North America. At the same time this year Armenal plans to increase
production of extra thin foil with a width of 7-9 micron, which is
in strong demand in the market, by 25%," RUSAL said.

DRAM DOWNFALL WON’T AFFECT ARMENIAN BANKS SOLVENCY

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.03.2009 22:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The results of the February monitoring do not
question paying capacity of Armenian banks, a CB senior official said

"The banking system will suffer losses but the banks will not
experience solvency problems," Central Bank Vice President Vache
Gabrielyan told a news conference on Wednesday.

"I am not afraid to open an account in any of Armenian banks,"
he added.

Mr. Gabrielyan also emphasized that the Central Bank applies
stress-tester methodology, which bases on detailed calculations. "The
system helps watch the developments and fix any changes including
those caused by exchange rate fluctuations," he said

NO DEFICIT OF GOODS IN ARMENIA

ARKA
March 5, 2009

YEREVAN, March 5. /ARKA/. No deficit of goods is currently observed in
Armenia nor is it expected during the next few months, stated Chairman
of the RA State Commission for Protection of Economic Competition
Ashot Shahnazaryan.

"No excitement on the commodities market is being observed now. The
population should not get panicky and bur large quantities of goods,"
Shahnazaryan told a press conference.

He gave assurances that sufficient quantity of all the essential
products is available in Armenia. Shahnazaryan stated that the
Commission will apply sanctions to violators.

CBA Board took into account the gradually worsening trade conditions
amid the present global economic and financial crisis, as well as
lower capital flow rates, and decided to restrict its interventions
in the currency market thereby reverting to its floating exchange
rate policy. CBA experts believe that the USD average exchange rate
will be 360-380 AMD/$1 this year.

ARMENIAN ECONOMIST: HAVING ANNOUNCED A FLOATING RATE OF THE NATIONAL CURRENCY, CENTRAL BANK OF ARMENIA ‘JUMPED FROM THE TENTH FLOOR’

ArmInfo
2009-03-04 12:11:00

ArmInfo. The national currency had to the transferred to a floating
rate even in the midst, 2008, a well-known Armenian economist, Director
of a Scientific- Research Center "Political Economy" Andranik Tevanyan
told journalists today when commenting on the Central Bank’s March
3 decision on returning the Armenian dram to a floating rate.

According to CB forecasts, the average dollar rate in 2009 is expected
within 360-380 AMD per US$1. To note, the dram rate to dollar increased
from 570-580 to 305 AMD/$1 during the last two years. A. Tevanyan
thinks that gradual increase of the Armenian dram rate from the midst,
2008 was the only way out of the situation developed as a result
of increase of its rate starting 2006. ‘The rate could be regularly
corrected, let us say by 5-10 drams, for which the Central Bank could
carry out moderate currency interventions which would be justified
for correction of the situation.

Then, this increase would be smooth at least and less painful. Now,
we have to jump from the tenth floor while we could go down stairs
at the proper time’, A. Tevanyan said.

He also said that formulation on to the floating rate conflicts with
the statements about a floating rate made during the last 1-2 years
by representatives of CB and government. ‘It was announced in 1994
that the Armenian national currency rate is floating. If there is a
decision on return to a floating rate, then where is a decision which
set a fixed rate?

Let CB representatives show it’, A. Tevanyan said.

"ALROSA" SUGGESTS LINE OF CREDIT TO ARMENIA

armradio.am
04.03.2009 16:35

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Tigran Sargsyan, today received the
President of the Russian "ALROSA" Company, Sergey Vibornov, and
his delegation.

Discussed were issued related to the process of future cooperation with
the company under the conditions of the global financial crisis, the
opportunities and perspectives of assistance to Armenian enterprises
engaged in diamond production.

The President of "ALROSA" suggested providing a large credit line
to Armenia, which will allow acquiring raw materials from "ALROSA"
and will provide the Armenian companies engaged in diamond refining
with necessary raw materials for the coming years.

The parties agreed to additionally discuss the conditions of the
credit, considering all the risks for the creditor and the borrower,
taking into consideration the possible future expressions of the
global financial crisis and their influence on economy.

ARMENIA TO OFFER TURKEY PARTICIPATION IN NUCLEAR PLANT PROJECT

AzerNews Weekly
March 4 2009
Azerbaijan

The Armenian government intends to offer Turkey the opportunity
to participate in the construction of its nuclear power plant,
a multi-billion-dollar project that Yerevan plans to launch soon,
Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian has said.

Sarkisian claimed that construction of a new nuclear plant was not
only of economic but also of political significance.

"This project could play an important stabilizing role in the
region. We want neighboring Turkey to take part in building the power
station, along with our strategic partner Russia."

Sarkisian said tests required to start the project, which is valued
at $4-6 billion, had already begun. The power plant is set to be
built by 2016.

Turkey has yet to respond to the Armenian premier`s statement, but
the Russian media have maintained that Ankara thinks positively of
the proposal.

"The government of Turkey is anticipating an official appeal on
participation in the atomic power plant from Armenian official
circles," Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Independent Newspaper) quoted an
undisclosed Turkish government source as saying. "Only after that
the Turkish side may consider the prospect of participating in the
project and announce its decision. If all the issues involved are
complied with, Yerevan`s proposal may be accepted."

The issue of constructing a nuclear power plant in Armenia has
been under discussion for several years. As is known, the existing
Metsamor facility, located outside the capital, is dilapidated
and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the European Union and
other international groups are insisting it be shutdown. The power
station, which consists of two blocks and has a capacity of 815 MWt,
was commissioned in 1976 and was a key source of electricity for
Armenia in the Soviet times. Along with meeting domestic demand,
power generated at the facility was exported to Turkey as well as to
Georgia and Azerbaijan.

After sustaining considerable damage in the aftermath of a
devastating earthquake in 1988, the operation of the power station
was suspended. However, after lengthy talks with international
representatives, Armenia managed to put one of the blocks, with 407MWt
capacity, back into operation in 1995. Today, the facility meets
half of the country`s demand for electricity. Since 2003, it has been
managed and virtually owned by Russian giants Inter RAO ES and Rosatom.

The EU has called for the close-down of the Metsamor power station by
2010-2011, while Yerevan hopes for assistance from the organization
of $1 billion in exchange for its closure.

Meanwhile, the U.S. decided to help Armenia with the construction
of a new power plant. According to a document signed, Washington
will allocate $2m for the preparation of a feasibility study under
the project.

Joseph Pennington, the U.S. charge d`affaires in Yerevan, said
Washington, which has long been pressing for the closure of Metsamor`s
sole reactor, supports the ambitious idea and will help Yerevan put
it into practice.

"The U.S. government supports the building of a new plant not only
to improve Armenia`s energy security but also because of continuing
concerns regarding the safety of the existing nuclear plant,"
Pennington said. "We look forward to the rapid replacement of the
Metsamor facility with a more modern and safer plant."

The diplomat said it would be premature to speak of the financing
issue but added that Washington could help Yerevan find a source.

ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER, CBA CHAIRMAN AND MINISTER OF ECONOMY SHOULD RESIGN, ECONOMIST ANDRANIK TEVANIAN SAYS

Noyan Tapan

M arch 4, 2009

YEREVAN, MARCH 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The current economic situation in
Armenia is mainly conditioned by the economic policy of Armenian
government and the monetary policy of the Central Bank of Armenia
(CBA) rather than by international financial and economic crisis,
economist Andranik Tevanian stated at the March 4 press conference. In
his words, the international processes have conditioned the economic
processes in Armenia by 10-20%, while the rest is the consequence of
the internal policy.

A. Tevanian said that March 3rd can be called a "black Tuesday". In
his words, there was total anarchy in the country yesterday as the two
persons responsible for Armenian economy – the president and prime
minister did not speak at all about the floating exchange rate. The
economist reminded that as early as mid 2008 there were opinions
about the need to pass to a controlled floating exchange rate, that
is, to raise the exchange rate by 5-10 drams every week, which would
not cause shocks, and reserves of 370 million dollars would not be
wasted. However, the representatives of authorities considered this
step as wrong. Now, according to A. Tevanian, the situation is fatal,
and the reserves were spent, reaching a billion USD mark.

He expressed an opinion that the steps taken by the authorities
are related to criminology rather than to economics. "I will ask
the prosecutor’s office to open a criminal case and find out how it
happened that only a day ago people sold more than 31 million dollars
at 307 drams a dollar on the stock exchange, while the following day
the CBA sold the dollar at 372 drams," Tevanian said. In his opinion,
the concrete officials should be held accountable for that, and the
prime minister, the chairman of the CBA and the minister of economy
should resign. Besides, according to him, the prosecutor’s office
should reveal the main purchasers of dollars in the past 5 days, as
well as the amount of capital outflow from Armenia during that period.

ARMENIA’S MONETARY BASE 400.2BLN AMD THIS JANUARY

ARKA
March 2, 2009

YEREVAN, March 2. /ARKA/. This January, Armenia’s monetary base
decreased by 49.5bln AMD or by 11% down to 400.2bln AMD.

The RA Statistical Service reports that the cash in circulation
outside the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) totaled 302.1bln AMD at
the end of this January against 344.5bln AMD early in January. The
required reserves in terms of AMD totaled 24.4bln AMD against 38.5bln
AMD last December. The required foreign currency reserves totaled
72.8 AMD against 65.9bln AMD.

The net international reserves (without privatization receipts) totaled
339.4bln AMD late this January – a monthly decrease of 37.5bln AMD
or 9.9%.

The net internal assets totaled 60.8bln AMD against 72.8bln AMD early
this January.

FITNA TO BE SCREENED IN CONGRESS

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.02.2009 14:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ U.S. Republican Sen. Jon Kyl is hosting Fitna, a
film screening at the Capitol building on Thursday for Geert Wilders,
a Dutch lawmaker whose film claims that Islam inspires terrorism.

Kyl agreed to facilitate the event because "all too often, people who
have the courage to point out the dangers of militant Islamists find
themselves vilified and endangered," said spokesman Ryan Patmintra,
AP reports.

The event is closed to the public and press, but the film is being
shown to members of Congress and their staff in the ornate "LBJ room,"
a Senate office once used by Lyndon B. Johnson as majority leader
and later vice president.

It’s sponsored by the International Free Press Society, headed by Lars
Hedegaard, the Danish activist, and the Center for Security Policy,
a think tank in Washington led by Republican Frank Gaffney.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Netanyahu to head Israeli government
20.02.2009 21:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the Israeli
right-of-centre Likud party, has been asked to form Israel’s next
government.

Mr Netanyahu said Israel faced "great challenges" including the global
economic crisis and what he said was Iran’s wish to obtain nuclear
weapons. He said he would try to form a unity government with his
political rivals.

But Tzipi Livni, leader of the centrist Kadima, has suggested she
would rather be in opposition than join a government led by Mr
Netanyahu.

Kadima narrowly defeated Likud in the election held on 10 February,
but Mr Netanyahu has the support of religious and right-wing parties
in the Israeli parliament. His position was bolstered on Thursday when
Avigdor Lieberman, head of Yisrael Beiteinu, which favors tightening
the Israeli blockade on Gaza, said it wanted him to be prime minister.

President Shimon Peres and Mr Netanyahu held a news conference to
officially announce that the Likud leader now has six weeks to put
together a coalition.

He told the news conference he wanted to open talks with his political
rivals to form a "broad national unity government for the good of the
people and the state". He said, "I call on Kadima chairwoman Tzipi
Livni and Labour Party chairman Ehud Barak and I say to them – let’s
unite to secure the future of the State of Israel."

On Iran, Mr Netanyahu returned to a key campaign theme, suggesting
that Tehran had emerged as Israel’s greatest security threat, BBC
reports.