In contrast to the 17 Armenian governments and political authorities, which sold 1.5 tons of gold in Armenia’s reserves in 2004, the Russian authorities were very smart and kept $153 billion of their $643 billion in gold reserves in Russia, said economist Atom Margaryan, speaking about the impact of sanctions against Russia on the Armenian economy. According to him, more than 60% of the reserves of the Central Bank of Russia are abroad, as a result of which the Central Bank of Russia has made a decision, which is not in the interests of businesses at all. “Businesses that sell oil and gas in foreign currency are obliged to sell 80% of their income to the state at the rate set by the Central Bank. This is because a significant part of the sanctions package is related to the freezing of the reserves of the Central Bank of Russia.”
According to Atom Margaryan, now that the sanctions against Russia may put pressure on the Armenian dram, that gold would be a resource in terms of interventions to keep the exchange rate stable. How will the Armenian economy react to the Russian sanctions? According to Margaryan, as our country has been in a crisis situation for 2 years due to the coronavirus and the war, the government should have transformed the country’s government into a crisis regime by focusing its resources as much as possible and creating inventory and security measures, including foreign currency, to be able to overcome such situations.
“Ammunition losses alone amounted to $2.5 billion to $3 billion, and all this must be compensated very quickly. Outwardly, we see financial stability, but what is the state of our security system, the furnishing of the borders, the defense, the acquisition of appropriate weapons?” As for the sanctions against Russia to close the air borders, Atom Margaryan said that they are extremely sharp and it is not that the consequences of that sanction will create problems only for Russia.
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“It’s not that Germany and England will not suffer. If a plane can reach Tokyo from London via Russia in 12 hours, this period will now increase by a third. If it bypasses the territory of Russia, the costs will increase significantly and those who impose restrictions do not calculate the damage. In the case of Armenia, flights to Europe and the United States are also operated by Russian airlines, as well as through the Kyiv airspace. In other words, both sides will suffer significant losses.” Atom Margaryan does not share the opinion that they will bring Russia to its knees with economic sanctions and thinks that they first of all harm Ukraine. “Only through negotiations should they find solutions.”
Lusine BUDAGHYAN
