Friday, November 23 2018 12:53

ArmInfo.Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended a Central Bank-hosted gala event on the 25th anniversary of introduction of Armenia's national currency, which was  held at the National Gallery of the Republic of Armenia, the press  service of the Armenian Prime Minister informed.  

Nikol Pashinyan visited an exhibition up in the Frescoes Gallery, which features all  the commemorative coins and banknotes issued by the Central Bank of  Armenia since 1994, including the 3rd Generation Banknotes released  in 2018.

During the event a stamp was cancelled, referred to as "Armenian  statehood: the 25th anniversary of Armenia's national currency." CBA  Chairman Artur Javadyan and Chairman of the Board of HayPost CJSC  Juan Pablo Gechidjian cancelled the stamp. It has a nominal value of  230 drams and is printed by Cartor printing house (France) in 30,000  copies.

To note, on November 22 banknotes with denominations of 10,000,  20,000 and 50,000 drams were introduced into circulation, and later,  on December 25, banknotes with denominations of 1,000, 2,000 and  5,000 drams will be introduced. Moreover, the banknote with the  nominal value of 2000 drams is put into circulation for the first  time.  To recall, `on November 22, 1993, a national currency, dram,  was put into circulation in independent Armenia. Over these 25 years,  both the banking system and the Armenian dram have been able to go  all the way and create a worthy story. It is not difficult to imagine  what challenges  newly independent Armenia faced then. The Central  Bank had just formed monetary policy and functions of financial  supervision, and at that time there were almost no state reserves.  Under these conditions, the most difficult was the formation of  confidence in the financial system and national currency.  Nevertheless, thanks to the teamwork, it was possible to achieve  confidence in the Armenian dram and financial system. Armenian dram  is not only a means of payment, but first of all it is a symbol of  state independence. The financial system of Armenia has proved that  it can withstand serious challenges. Proof of this is the growth in  deposits and loans in the most difficult period of the 2008 financial  and economic crisis. So, if in 2008 the banks' credit portfolio was  615 billion drams and assets were 1 trillion drams, then by October  1, 2018 these figures had already reached 3.1 trillion drams ($ 6.4  billion) and 4.7 trillion drams ($ 9.8 billion), respectively.  November 22 is also the day of the bank employee.