YEREVAN. – The Armenian dram (AMD) again began losing value, Haykakan Zhamanak daily reports. 

“One [US] dollar was AMD 412.45 at Armenia’s stock exchange yesterday [Thursday], whereas the dollar cost approximately AMD 408 a week ago. So, the dram devalued by one percent in several days.  

The dram’s devaluation is primarily conditioned on the fact that the people ended their September 1 [that is, the start of the new school year] shopping, for which they had taken the cash dollars out ‘from underneath the mattresses’ and thrown into the market.  

And, now, when that source for complementing the market with foreign currency has ‘dried out,’ the demand for the dollar grew yet again, and this results in the dram’s devaluation.    

To note, one dollar’s exchange rate in Armenia had reached up to AMD 420 until the last increase phase,” Haykakan Zhamanak writes.