YEREVAN, October 7, /ARKA/. At the end of August a total of 779.7 billion Drams were invested by Armenian banks in the local economy, by 1.6% or 12.6 billion Drams more than at the end of July, the Central Bank of Armenia said in its monthly bulletin for August, posted on its official website.

The largest portion of investments - 21.4% or 167 billion Drams- was channeled into trade, rising by 2.2% from July. Industry accounted for the second largest share of bank investments at 20.8%. Investments in industry rose by 6.7% from July to 162.4 billion Drams. Consumer credits came third rising by 18.6 percent from July to 145.2 billion Drams. Mortgage credits dropped by 0.7% to 84.5 billion Drams.

Investments in construction slashed by 6.3% to 59.3 billion Drams, investments in agriculture contracted by 2% to 50.5 billion Drams, those in services grew by 3% to 36.2 billion Drams and investments in transport and communications went up by 7.5% to 257 billion Drams. -0-

ARMENIAN BACKS CREDIT INVESTMENTS IN ECONOMY BY SECTORS

(AMD, in mln)