2024-07-22 23:40:13
The National Assembly is discussing the election of Hovhannes Khachatryan to the post of the Central Bank’s Deputy Chairman.
The candidate announced that the second half of 2020 was difficult for Armenia and Artsakh. it was war and pestilence.
“Elements of internal and external instability persisted until mid-2021. From the second quarter of 2021, the unprecedented high inflation recorded in the world economy was added to them. “Especially, a significant increase was recorded in energy carriers and food products,” he said.
He noted that at the moment inflation has reached 6.8 percent in the USA, 5 percent in the Eurozone, and 8.4 percent in the Russian Federation.
“Certain risks also arose in Armenia from the point of view of prices and financial stability. “At the beginning of the spread of the epidemic, the Central Bank of Armenia relaxed the monetary conditions, lowering the interest rate by 1.25 percentage points and provided unlimited liquidity in order to restore the reduced demand,” he said.
Khachatryan noted that unlike other crises in the history of Armenia, capital outflows, shocks in financial markets and inflationary expectations, there were no cases of de-anchoring this time.
According to him, in the case of the war, however, there was a certain outflow of deposits – about 6.4 percent, an increase in the proportion of non-performing loans – 7.5 percent, and a certain decrease in lending rates.
“As a result, the economic potential decreased by 1.1 percent annually. Volatility increased in financial markets. The Central Bank was one of the first in the country to take drastic steps out of the stimulus policy regime. the cumulative increase of the interest rate was 3.5 percent,” Khachatryan noted.
As of the end of December, 12-month inflation in Armenia was 7.7 percent, returning to a historically high level of 9.6 percent as of November.