YEREVAN, May 19. / ARKA /. Armenia’s National Assembly has passed today in the first reading a Central Bank-proposed bill that calls for a dramatic increase in the size of insured individual bank deposits both in the national currency, the dram and in foreign currency.

More precisely, the size of individual deposits in drams will rise to 10 million from the current 4 million, while the size of deposits in foreign currency will grow to the equivalent of 5 million drams from the current 2 million.

The following scheme will work if an individual has deposits both in drams and foreign currency. If the dram deposit is above 5 million, only that amount will be insured fully. If the deposit in drams is less than 5 million, it will be insured fully and a part of the deposit in foreign currency - the equivalent of the difference between the deposit in drams and 5 million drams. Overall, the proposed bill provides for a 2.5 times increase in the amount of insured deposits.

The bill was backed by Mher Shahgeldyan and Heghine Bisharyan, lawmakers from Orinats Yerkir party who described it as ‘an important element of the bank insurance.’ Shahgeldyan noted that the bill needs some changes, concerning the size of insured deposits in drams and foreign currency.

It was also endorsed by Hrant Bagratyan from the oppositional Armenian National Congress, who, however, pointed out some drawbacks, saying the bill must also be applied to corporate customers’ deposits. He also argued that there should be no difference between the sizes of insured deposits in the national and foreign currencies.

The authors of the bill expect the bill to raise the investment attractiveness of the country on one hand and reduce the outflow of deposits on the other.

According to Gagik Minasyan, head of a parliamentary committee on financial and budget issues, the next step will be to insure the funds of corporate customers. M.V.-0-