August 25, 2009 - 15:40 AMT
No Armenian bank went bankrupt despite the crisis
To increase trust in national currency, Armenian society is required to trust the Government as well as central and commercial banks, Union of Armenian Banks Chairman Emil Soghomonyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. "If our population has no trust in Armenian Dram, natural persons will very likely make their investments in foreign currency," he noted.

As we know, the national currency devaluation recorded in March greatly affected investment policy. Thus, following March 3, CBA resumed floating currency rate policy, which caused investors to lose trust in Armenian Dram.

Touching upon international experience in crisis management, Soghomonyan noted that many banks had collapsed as a result of global recession, while "No Armenian bank went bankrupt, despite suffering significant losses".

The expert does not predict real changes in investment policy and sees no prospect for national currency devaluation. So he recommends that "population keep its savings in Drams as rates for national currency are higher."

On March 3, 2009, RA Central Bank resumed floating currency rate policy. Specialists anticipate dollar exchange rate to remain within the boundaries of AMD 360-380. On March 3, 2009 price per 1 US dollar soared from AMD 305-308 to AMD 380-400.