YEREVAN, March 6. / ARKA /. The Armenian government has approved today a bill motioned by lawmaker Hrant Bagratyan from the oppositional Armenian National Congress.

The bill is designed to amend a law protecting individual bank depositors, in full or in part, from losses caused by a bank's inability to pay its debts when due. The amended bill extends the law also to corporate depositors.

Economy minister Vahram Avanesyan said the government supports the bill given the international experience of deposit insurance, but would like the bill to go through public hearings before sending it to the parliament..

The idea of public hearings was backed by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, who said the bill should be discussed with commercial banks and representatives of business.

The total amount of deposits of residents of Armenia in 2013 December stood at 1.148.8 trillion drams, an increase of 21 percent from the year earlier. -0-