YEREVAN (Arka)–Armenia’s Central Bank Chairman’sought to ease growing concern over Armenia’s ability to weather the global financial storm Tuesday by describing the country’s financial system as “stable” and in a “satisfactory state,” reported Arka news agency.
Referring to reports by local and international experts, CBA Chairman Artur Javadyan said that the Armenian financial system is stable. “It would be too much to say that our financial system is a very good state, but it is in a satisfactory state,” he told reporters at the Novosti press center.
Javadyan said that the global financial crisis cannot be ignored, and, being part of the global financial system, Armenia’should not avoid public discussion on the possible effects the worldwide recession may have on Armenia’s economy.
He said Armenia’s banking system closed last year with “quite good indicators,” pointing to reports indicating a more than 30 percent increase in the country’s banking assets and another nearly 40 percent increase in its capital.
“Many rumors about decreased crediting are circulating now,” he said. Attempting to dispel those rumors, he noted that during the last three months of 2008, “when the global crisis produced an apparent effect on many countries, 150,000 individual loans and over 2,000 loans to legal entities were issued in Armenia.”
According to the CBA’s preliminary data, the Armenian banking system’s overall assets reached 1,020bln AMD in 2008 ‘s an increase of 33%. While the net profit of Armenian banks reached 27bln AMD, an increase of 7bln AMD.
As of September 30, 2008, twenty-two commercial banks and 367 branches were operating in Armenia.