The Central Bank of Armenia will continue to maintain its independence of the authorities. This is what Martin Galstyan, the only contender for the position of head of the Central Bank nominated by the ruling My Step Alliance, said while answering deputies’ questions during a discussion on approval of his nomination in parliament today.

According to him, there are countries where Central Banks become the so-called ‘daughter’ of the Ministry of Finance. As the financier stated, since governments will always try to spend more than they can, conditions have been created for Central Banks to maintain their independence from state bodies and be held accountable to the public, and according to him, this allows him to be confident that the Central Bank of Armenia will continue to remain independent. “When the Central Bank has seen that economic growth highly exceeds the potential GDP, it has increased interest rates, regardless of the government’s opinion,” he stated, adding that he is confident that the Central Bank will continue with the same spirit and reminding that the Bank’s independence has allowed it to maintain the stability of the financial system.