YEREVAN, February 23. /ARKA/. The Central Bank of Armenia will concentrate its efforts on curbing dollarization in 2010, Vahe Vardanyan, chief of the central bank’s division on financial stability, said Saturday at the round-table discussion held in Tsakhkadzor, Armenia, as part of Bridge-2010 economic forum.

“We have worked out a program, which will be implemented in cooperation with the government. The aim of this program is to prevent purchase/sale deals in dollars,” he said.

Vardanyan said that in 2009 the central bank’s attention was focused rather on financial than price stability, but this year stability of prices will be among the central bank’s top-priority objectives.

According to National Statistical Service, consumer prices rose 6.5% in December 2009, compared with the same month a year before.

Inflation was planned at 4% (±1.5%) in the 2009 state budget.

“However, it doesn’t mean that the central bank will stop paying attention to financial stability,” Vardanyan added.

He said that the banking system has problem with running assets and liabilities.

“The population has immense savings in foreign currencies – about 78% of deposits are in dollars, while demand for loans in drams dominates assets. Banks found themselves in very complicated situation and face difficulties in running assets and liabilities without risks,” Vardanyan said.-0---