YEREVAN, February 25. /ARKA/. Ex-premier of Armenia Hrant Bagratyan criticized the central bank’s decision of the end of December to raise the capital requirement for banks from 5 to 30 billion drams, Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Time) newspaper says.

According to the newspaper, the decision was made as part of the measures against dram depreciation to increase local currency demand. As per the decision, Armenian banks will have to ensure 30 billion drams in capital by 2017. The banks that fail to meet the requirement in time will be closed down.

Bagratyan said there are only some six countries in the world with higher level of total capital requirement than Armenia.

“The central bank’s decision is not a mistake; it is simply a mockery... It should be suspended”, the ex-premier said.

Why to close banks and deprive several hundred of people of their jobs, the ex-premier asks. According to projections, this decision will reduce the number of banks in Armenia by 7, Haykakan Zhamanak says. –0--