YEREVAN. - Armenian banks purchased a total of $49 million from the population, and sold $71.6 million to the population over the week, reported the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA).

Thus, US Dollar remains in low supply in the market though certain progress has been registered as compared with last week (Armenian banks purchased a total of $46 million April 4 to 9).

The decline in US Dollar supply is one of the major reasons for AMD depreciation. A 30% decrease in transfers from Russia most likely account for the decline in supply.

The CBA reports that Armenian banks issued AMD 16.5 billion ($44.6 million) loans in national currency, with US Dollar loans totaling $39.4 million. That is, loans totaling $80 million have been issued in terms of both AMD and US Dollars this week, which is a very low figure. Last week, US Dollar loans alone totaled $71.5 million.