YEREVAN, December 17. /ARKA/. The Armenian financial system owes its stability amid political shocks to the central bank’s hard and long-term work, Nerses Yeritsyan, deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia, said Friday at Fitch Ratings annual conference in Yerevan.

“This is the result of a serious work, which maybe is not visible from the outside,” he said. “When we increased capital for the banking system [minimum capital requirement to banks], we created buffers. We were criticized and accused of intention to suffocate competition, but we were doing our job. We hobble things to shield our financial system from inside and outside shocks.”

And these efforts, he said, have produced visible results – and the central bank ensures stability to the financial sector, prices and markets.

Speaking about reserves, Yeritsyan said that the year had started with high indicators along with some fluctuations, and now the reserve indicator is high – three months of import coverage.

Yeritsyan explained that the central bank was buying currencies throughout the year to prevent unjustified fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.

Net currency purchase by the central bank amounts to $50 million now

Armenia’s gross international reserves totaled $2 117.8 million in late November 2018 after growing 1.68% or by $35 million over one month.

They amounted to $2 286.9 million in the beginning of the year.

According to the statistical reports, the US dollar traded at AMD 481.39, on average, at the first quarter, at AMD 482.69 at the second quarter and AMD 482.56 at the third quarter. In October, it traded at AMD 484.93. -0---