YEREVAN, July 14. /ARKA/. Armenia’s foreign debt is growing as interest rates on loans extended to the country are going up, Bagrat Asatryan, former chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia, said Thursday answering to the question ARKA News Agency put to him. “Armenia’s large debt is one of the gravest problems waiting for their solutions,” he said.

Asatryan said that Armenia would pay a high price for the loans attracted from the outside.

He pointed out the credit obtained from Russia as example. On June 12, 2009, Russia lent $500-million to Armenia as stabilization credit at LIBOR + 3% interest rate.

“Even commercial deals are not concluded at such a high interest rate,” he said.

Asatryan finds it impossible to repay this debt at the expense of the government budget in the near future. -0---