YEREVAN. - Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) briefed on monetary and credit policy in 2010 in the Armenian National Assembly.

Head of CBA Arthur Javadyan said that Armenia has reached stabilization of macroeconomic indicators since the last six months of 2009. Thus, recovery in industry and service sector contributed to 2.1% economic growth registered in 2010. Growth in these fields reached 4.6% and 9.5% respectively.

Growth of loans considerably contributed to economic growth, Javadyan said. Loan portfolio of banks went up by AMD 185 billion ($430 million) or 16.3%, while bank assets went up by AMD 235 billion ($630 million) or 15%. Large share in bank lending fell on business loans which went up by 32%, mainly directed to the industry and services. Household loans up by 19.8%.

All trends create conditions for rapid economic recovery and further development. In this context, bank interest rate will decrease gradually. 

As a result of anti-crisis measures of the government, loans-to-GDP ratio went up by 3.1% making 25.3% in late 2010.