YEREVAN, April 18. / ARKA /. Armenia's financial system is stable and risks are manageable, said Andranik Grigoryan, head of a Central Bank department in charge of stability and financial system development.

"Our financial system is stable and able to withstand different kinds of shocks,” he said at the presentation of the regulator’s report on the financial stability of the country in 2013.

He said this is evidenced by the current indicators of the system, and regular stress tests conducted at least once a quarter. According to Grigoryan, almost all the main indicators of the financial system  recorded growth last year, as they did in the previous years.

He said the stability of Armenia’s financial system may be affected in varying degrees by global economic developments and geopolitical events.

According to the Central Bank, the total loan portfolio of local banks stood at about 1.8 trillion drams at the end of last December, a twofold increase over the previous five years; the deposits grew 2.5 times to 1.6 trillion drams.

Over the last five years the banks’ loans in the nation’s GDP surged from 3.7% to 42.1 % in 2013, while their assets in the overall  GDP rose from 42.2 % to 69 % in 2013. _0-