Armenian Dram Depreciates Against Russian Ruble, Says Central Bank President

The Armenian dram has depreciated against the Russian ruble. This was stated today during a meeting with journalists by the President of the Central Bank of Armenia, Martin Galstyan.

“Russia is one of our main import markets, where the Russian ruble has appreciated and there is higher inflation compared to ours. In other words, the Armenian dram has depreciated in real terms against the Russian ruble,” Galstyan elaborated.

It is noteworthy that today at exchange points in Armenia, the Russian ruble can be purchased for 4.93 drams, while in the first half of 2025 it was 4.82 drams.

“Tax revenues have decreased by about 5.4% compared to last year, but the revised plan has been achieved. The decline in tax revenues is also attributed to fundamental changes in profit tax during the second quarter of the reporting year,” said the Central Bank President during preliminary discussions on the implementation of the state budget for 2020 in the National Assembly.

Martin Galstyan noted that in 2020, state budget expenditures increased by 16.3% compared to the previous year.

“In 2020, the funding of anti-crisis measures by the government has been carried out with significantly higher volumes of borrowing than initially planned. As a result of the implemented tax-budgetary policy, the state budget deficit has increased to 5.4% of GDP, while the government's debt burden in relation to GDP has also notably grown by about 13.5%, reaching 63.5% and exceeding the threshold of 60% set by tax-budgetary rules,” the Central Bank President reported.