YEREVAN. – The Center for Economic Development Initiatives (CEDI) has looked into the dynamics of the external debt Armenia, from April 2018 to June 2018.

Accordingly, the country’s external debt has dropped by $118.6 million, or by 2.1 percent, over the past 15 months.

During the period under review, the Central Bank of Armenia’s external debt reduced by $85.4 million and that of the government—by $32.9 million.

During these 15 months, $77.9 million were received from external sources to fund the state budget deficit of the country, while repayments of credits and loans totaled $78.8 million. As a result, the net credit and loan “inflow” to Armenia amounted to about -$300,000.

Over the past 15 months, both the Central Bank’s and the government’s external debt in US dollars has increased somewhat, whereas their external debt in special drawing rights (SDR) has reduced.

During the last 15 months, Armenia’s SDR has depreciated by 4.6 percent against the US dollar, whereas this depreciation stood at 8.3 percent against the euro.

Thus, the reduction in the external debt of Armenia by $118.6 million during the observed period was due to the depreciation of the country’s SDR against the US dollar and the external debt repayment by the Central Bank.