YEREVAN, November 24. / ARKA /. The sharp depreciation of Armenia’s national currency, the dram, against USD and euro should be blamed on  the slow pace of economic growth and a number of external factors, according to an ex governor of the Central Bank  Bagrat Asatryan.

Speaking to a news conference today he said the drop in dram’s value is caused by objective factors - unfavorable economic situation, slow pace of economic expansion and external factors, first of all, a reduction in the amount of remittances and foreign investment.

According to Asatryan, in view of the ongoing negative trends, no one can say how much and for how long the national currency will be devaluating.

Armenia’s national currency began to lose its value in late October. According to the Central Bank, the average market exchange rate of the USD on November 21 was 418.4 drams, up 1.7% from the beginning of the month. Today the greenback traded at 435 drams. To shore up the dram the Central Bank sold $ 60.7 million in the last three weeks.

The amount of remittances sent to Armenia largely by labor migrants in Russia and other countries to their relatives at home through the banks grew by 0.36 percent in the first nine months of 2014 when compared to the same time span of 2013, to more than $1.323 billion, according to the Central Bank. -0-