YEREVAN, March 27. / ARKA /. The influx of Iranian tourists, who arrive in Armenia in late March to celebrate the Iranian New Year-Nowruz- has helped the Armenian national currency, the dram, to regain its value a little, according to Armenian newspaper "168 Hours" (168 hours).

A story in the newspaper cites the data from the Central Bank of Armenia which say that the cost of USD has dropped by 0.15 percentage points on March 27 when compared to the day before trading at 471.63 drams. The cost of the greenback has dropped by 6 drams for the last week, it says.

The newspaper says there are no other reasons but Iranian tourists that can explain the rise of the dram’s value. Thus, the volume of remittances from abroad sent home by Armenian labor migrants continued to decline along with exports that declined significantly too. Besides, the Central Bank did not force local banks to sell large amounts of hard currency.

According to "168 Hours", about 110,000 Iranians visit Armenia annually and 20 percent of them flock to Armenia in the last decade of March, spending here 7-10 days and about $1,000 each or a total of $20-25 million. The newspaper says given that thousands of Iranians are still here one can expect them to spend another $20-25 million.

The newspaper says the strengthening of the Armenian dram in late March is a short-term effect. In April, the dram will continue to devaluate, as indicated by such factors as falling foreign trade, investments and money transfers. -0-