Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan Sells His Car and Invests in a Bank Deposit

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced during an online press conference today that he has sold his car and invested the proceeds as a bank deposit.

“Recently, I sold my ‘Hunday’ and am keeping the amount as a deposit in the bank in drams. Our compatriots are increasingly trusting the dram and prefer to take loans in drams while keeping their deposits in drams. I am doing the same,” said the Prime Minister.

He noted that in the past two years, there has been a trend of decreasing dollarization in the banking system. In 2019, the dollarization level of loans provided to commercial banks was 53 percent, down from 59.5 percent the previous year. The dollarization level of deposits in 2019 was recorded at 59.3 percent, compared to 60 percent the year before. Notably, the dollarization level based on deposits was at 62.4 percent in 2017.

Pashinyan emphasized that this is how we should treat our national currency.