YEREVAN, December 16. /ARKA/. Armenia's Central Bank downplayed today a story, headlined “Armenia’s international reserves are no longer unprecedented: what happened a few days after a (Facebook) post by Nikol Pashinyan,” which was placed on www.168.am website, saying the story lacks any professional justification.

"The level of Armenia's external forex reserves is really unprecedented, and the decrease mentioned in the story is normal being of seasonal nature. As previously said, it is incorrect to make judgments about the level of forex reserves based on monthly changes, because the changes should be considered in dynamics for a longer period," the Central Bank said in a statement forwarded to ARKA news agency.
For example, the Central Bank says, in late November 2019, the external forex reserves increased by $257 million from the same time span of 2018.

"The author of the story makes comparison with 2013, but it is known that in September 2013 the level of reserves stood at $2.430 billion, which was due to the issue of Eurobonds and the attraction of a Russian loan. That level did not change for several days, and in November of the same 2013 the reserves dropped to $2.022 billion," the Central Bank said.

As for changes in 2019 November compared with the previous month, according to the regulator, at the end of the year many commercial organizations either fulfill their obligations or create new commercial organizations, which can lead to an increase in the volume of money transfers.

"The reason for the decrease in reserves in November was the servicing of the state debt by the Armenian government. We can add that a similar seasonal fluctuation historically occurs also during December, but in the opposite direction," the Central Bank said.

Summarizing the above-said, the Central Bank stated that the level of international reserves of the country is truly unprecedented.

“As a justification, let us consider the size of international reserves over the past 10 years on an average monthly basis, refraining from assessing short-term fluctuations. In addition, as of late November 2019, the level of international reserves was historically higher in comparison with the same indicator of previous years,” the Central Bank said.

Earlier, the head of the Central Bank Arthur Javadyan stated that the international forex reserves of Armenia reached a record high in 2019. According to the Central Bank, the external gross reserves of the country in late October 2019 stood at about $ 2.47 billion, and in late November they fell to $2.37 billion.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said earlier that this year the Central Bank has purchased as much as $521.8 million of forex. According to him, this indicates a large influx of currency into Armenia, reflecting the stability of the financial system, creating new business opportunities and increasing the availability of financial resources. . -0-