YEREVAN, September 16. /ARKA/. Armenia's National Assembly approved September 15 in the second and final reading a set of amendments to the law insuring individual bank deposits, proposed by the opposition Prosperous Armenia party.

According to the approved amendments, the amount of the insured bank deposit in Armenian drams is increased to 16 million from the current 10 million, and the amount of bank deposits in foreign currencies is increased to the equivalent of 7 million drams from  the current 5 million.

Prosperous Armenia MP Mikael Melkumyan, who initiated the amendments, said that last time the insured amount of deposits had been raised was  five years ago. In his words, the amendments will apply to 98% of the deposits, up from the current 41.5%.

Melkumyan added that these changes were approved by the Central Bank and will not create additional obligations and burdens for the banking sector.

If a bank's license is revoked, or it is declared bankrupt, the Deposit Insurance Fund will compensate depositors' funds in accordance with the law. The Fund, established by the Central Bank is a non-commercial legal entity. Its main goal is to ensure the stability and reliability of the country's banking system. ($1 - 485.31 drams) - 0 -