Yerevan/Mediamax/. AMD recent devaluation has no economic and financial factors in terms of sharp reduction of national currency offer, stated former head of Central Bank of Armenia Bagrat Asatryan. 

Mediamax reports, speaking at the news conference in Yerevan today, Bagrat Asatryan said that the principal factors of devaluation are oligarchs’ personal interests and the distrust in national currency caused by that, as well as mass capital outflow from Armenia.
 
"The second factor has acquired quite mass character recently: Armenian businessmen often prefer to make investments abroad, in particular in Georgia, where economic situation is better than here", said Bagrat Asatryan.

He said that "CB measures on de-dollarization are directed at increasing AMD demand and establish financial and economic premises for AMD tightening, but nothing can yield to common logic in Armenia, and unfortunately CB can have no influence on oligarchs` interests".

Bagrat Asatryan also stressed the necessity to reduce monetary factor of inflation control.

"In order to have impact on inflation, CB functions should have been limited only by money supply control, meanwhile currency interventions of CB, which reached $180mln only in 2010, became the basic control mode of inflation in Armenia", said Bagrat Asatryan, stating, at that the role of other modes on inflation control is reduced to nothing, in particular factor of public bond market.

Bagrat Asatryan said that at efficient operations in public securities market the government of Armenia could have avoided attraction of foreign holdings. Additional liquidity in banks surpasses minimum demanded index twice, this money does not enter economy because of the government, which resorted to foreign holdings instead of attracting recourses from the inside, said Bagrat Asatryan.

Commenting on Ex-President Robert Kocharyan`s recent statements on economic policy of the government, made during the interview with Mediamax, Bagrat Asatryan said that 90% of issues of Armenian economy have accumulated within the recent 10 years, "as a result of which I cannot treat seriously to such statements and I think that they have Kocharyan’s political recovery for an object".

Answering the questions on macroeconomic forecasts concerning Armenia for 2010, former Head of Central Bank expressed opinion that Armenia will close 2010 with economic recession by 1-2%.