YEREVAN. – The international reserves of Armenia continue to decline approaching the “red line” threshold, Chorrord Ishkhanutyun daily reported.      

“In the case when the international reserves were 1 billion and 489 million [US] dollars in December [2014], they reduced in January [2015] to 1 billion 351 million dollars.

“Moreover, with the requirement of international organizations, it is an accepted standard: the reserves shall be lower than the volume of the last three months of imports. But the volume of Armenia’s last three months of imports has amounted to about 1.1 billion dollars.

“In all likelihood, the CB [i.e. the Central Bank of Armenia] has spent the state reserves to artificially increase the dram [, the Armenian national currency,] in value to prevent a new ‘flight’ of the dollar,” Chorrord Ishkhanutyun wrote.