YEREVAN, October 13. / ARKA /. The ongoing plunge of Russian ruble could lead to the replacement of Armenia-made goods by Russian-made, warned today an ex-head of the Central Bank of Armenia Bagrat Asatryan.

In an interview with ARKA news agency he said the depreciating ruble is affecting Armenia’s economy;  in particular, it will make Russian goods at the Armenian market more competitive and will also affect Armenian exports, while locally-made  products can be replaced by Russian ones.

Asatryan says this trend will accelerate after Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union. He says not only Armenia, but also Europe-made goods are very likely to be replaced by Russian ones.

“Unlike Russia that has resources and tools to influence the markets, to stimulate the economy and to control  the national currency, Armenia has no such opportunities.  Armenia pursues floating exchange rate policy and the Central Bank due to limited resources is unable to control the national currency and the market,” he said.

According to Russian news reports, the ruble slumped to a new all-time low against the euro today as the spillover from the Ukraine crisis and falling oil prices falling to 51.27 to the euro. The national currency also dropped against the dollar to a rate of 40.42, according to the Moscow Exchange, scudding along beneath the psychologically important mark of 40 to the dollar that it broke through last week.

The fresh slump came after Russia's Central Bank chief Elvira Nabiullina said the regulator had pumped some $6 billion (R66 billion) into propping up the currency over the past ten days.

Nabiullina however ruled out establishing a fixed exchange in a bid to stop the decline.
“Setting a fixed exchange rate would, in my opinion, be a counterproductive decision and in contradiction of market factors,” Russian news agencies quoted her as saying. -0-