Kocharian Sees ‘Speculative Trading’ Behind Stronger Dram

Published: 12 December 2004 y., Sunday
President Robert Kocharian said on Friday that the renewed strengthening of the national currency, the dram, resulted not only from market factors but also speculative dealing, openly disagreeing with the Armenian Central Bank. Kocharian was quoted by his press office as demanding “resolute and quick actions” to prevent further currency fluctuations during what appeared to be an emergency meeting with members of the bank's governing board. “According to the president, there are also speculative activities during such currency fluctuations,” the office said in a statement. The statement did not say what specific action Kocharian expects from the Central Bank after a 6 percent rise in the dram’s value against the U.S. dollar during the first week of this month. The dollar’s depreciation in the Armenian market stopped only Friday, stabilizing at 475 drams. The greenback has lost ground to other major world currencies in the course of the year, but its fall has been particularly dramatic in Armenia where it was worth 565 drams in December 2003. It has hit hard a large part of the country’s population dependent on dollar remittances from family members working abroad. The Central Bank has said all along that the dram has been bolstered by a 50 percent jump in those remittances, denying a popular theory about local commercial banks and large-scale importers engaging in speculative trading. The bank’s chairman, Tigran Sarkisian, again ruled out any monetary intervention in the exchange rates as recently as Tuesday.
Šaltinis: armenialiberty.org
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.

Facebook Comments

New comment


Captcha

Associated articles

The most popular articles

Volcanic ash cloud crisis: Commission outlines response to tackle the impact on air transport

European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, today presented to the College a preliminary assessment of the economic consequences for the air transport industry of the volcanic ash crisis. more »

EU draft budget 2011: The future beyond the crisis

Boosting economic recovery, investing in Europe's youth and in tomorrow's infrastructures are the priorities of the 2011 draft budget adopted by the Commission on 27 April 2010. more »

Vice President Almunia welcomes Visa Europe's proposal to cut interbank fees for debit cards

European Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia welcomes proposed commitments by Visa Europe to significantly cut its multilateral interchange fees (MIFs) for debit card payments. more »

Volcano impacts flower business

Because of the Icelandic volcano, flower growers in Colombia couldn't get their stems to markets in Europe. more »

Salgado expresses conviction that all EU countries will support aid for Greece

The Second Vice President of the Spanish government and Minister of Economy and Finance, Elena Salgado, on Sunday played down the importance of apparent fissures within the EU concerning the Greek financial crisis, expressing her confidence that all countries would support the aid package for this country, which will be accompanied by a tough budget-tightening plan. more »

The European conformity mark

Commission launches an information campaign on the CE conformity mark - designed to ease the free movement of goods around Europe and protect consumers. more »

Airport security - who will foot the bill?

If Europe's airports ever open again the introduction of new security measures like body scanners will be expensive. more »

Learning the lessons from Greece

After Eurozone Finance Ministers agreed measures to address Greece’s financial woes last Sunday, MEPs quizzed leading economic figures, including the chairman of Goldman Sachs - former financial advisors to the Greek government - on how to strengthen EU economic governance and improve reporting of national statistics. more »

A new strategic vision for the EU's Tourism Policy

The European Tourism Stakeholders Conference, being held in Madrid today and tomorrow, will explore ways and means to strengthen the visibility of tourism at a European level and to verify how the actions to promote a competitive EU tourism industry. more »

EBRD, IFC, FMO, and ADM Capital Launch Fund to Help Companies in CEE, Central Asia, and Turkey Recover from Crisis

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), World Bank Group member IFC, and The Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) have joined up with the Asia Debt Management Hong Kong (ADM Capital) to establish a regional fund to invest in midsize companies facing financing difficulties as a result of the financial crisis. more »