YEREVAN, December 20./ARKA/. Economist Vilen Khachatryan thinks the Armenian drams’ exchange rate will stabilize within 440-450 drams per one dollar.

The Armenian national currency's fever began on November 24, when the dollar surged 16.6 percentage points to 435 drams hitting its record high in eight years.

After the dollar hit a new record high on December 17, jumping 36.86 percentage points against the national currency to 527.20 drams, it shed 30.2 percentage points on the next day to 497 drams.

Yesterday the dollar lost other 32.43 percentage points against the dram, compared with the previous day, and today it trades at 464.57 drams.

«The bottom benchmark came close to 430-435 drams today and the ceiling to 465-470 drams – you see the margin is very wide,» Khachatryan said.

The expert pointed out three scenarios of development of things – the dollar will shed to 430-440 drams, to 460-470 drams or 440-450 drams.

«I prefer the third scenario – it looks more realistic,» he said. «The dollar is unlikely to go up in the beginning of 2015.»

In his opinion, the devaluation of the national currency was triggered by two factors. The first factor is connected with developments in Russia, geopolitical situation, economic sanctions against Russia, oil prices and the devaluation of the Russian ruble.

«The second factor is related to things in Armenia and jobbery,» Khachatryan said. --0--