YEREVAN, February 15. /ARKA/. Lending interest rates in Armenia can be reduced at the expense of about 300 billion drams (about $615 million) being currently disputed in the courts, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a government meeting on Friday.

He said according to approximate estimates of the Central Bank, there are about 300 billion drams disputes being considered by courts and no ruling have been made yet on them, and at least there are no disputes regarding half of this amount, but there are legal procedures that need to be implemented.
The Prime Minister said the government and the Central Bank should seriously cooperate to lower interest rates in cooperation with the parliament and the Ministry of Justice.

"Why is this important? Because 300 billion drams in the financial market will create conditions for lowering interest rates. Commercial banks have already taken certain steps. I urge the Central Bank to join and quickly develop legislative mechanisms and send them to parliament’s consideration," said Pashinyan.

At the end of January, the Central Bank of Armenia made a decision to lower the refinancing rate by 0.25 percentage points to 5.75%. --0--