Armenia: Dram or Drama?

Residents of Armenia are expecting another currency crisis in the hours following signs of position loss of the Armenian Dram (AMD) which yesterday stood at 1$ to 479 AMD and today stands at $1 to 489 AMD.

The fall in the rate of the AMD came as no great surprise for economic circles in Armenia; just days ago Bloomberg named the Armenian Dram one of the 10 riskiest currencies in the world which can be expected to lose position as a result of global developments.

Many citizens began to sell their last drams trying to buy US dollars yet many exchange points have begun turning people away, claiming there are no dollars left to sell.

Armenia's former prime-minister, MP Hrant Bagratian (1993-1996), strongly criticized the government for the current condition of the AMD, stating tha:t "Instead of gradually shifting the free market exchange rate, we have a fixed rate which is crashing in just 1-2 years- all because the managers of our Central Bank are acting only with a ‘butcher's knife and axe,’ having no other tools available to them."

The last collapse the Armenian Dram experienced took place in December 2014, when the Armenian currency lost 15% of its value.

Karen Tovmasyan