ArmInfo.Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended a Central Bank-hosted gala event on the 25th anniversary of introduction of Armenia's national currency, which was held at the National Gallery of the Republic of Armenia, the press service of the Armenian Prime Minister informed.
Nikol Pashinyan visited an exhibition up in the Frescoes Gallery, which features all the commemorative coins and banknotes issued by the Central Bank of Armenia since 1994, including the 3rd Generation Banknotes released in 2018.
During the event a stamp was cancelled, referred to as "Armenian statehood: the 25th anniversary of Armenia's national currency." CBA Chairman Artur Javadyan and Chairman of the Board of HayPost CJSC Juan Pablo Gechidjian cancelled the stamp. It has a nominal value of 230 drams and is printed by Cartor printing house (France) in 30,000 copies.
To note, on November 22 banknotes with denominations of 10,000, 20,000 and 50,000 drams were introduced into circulation, and later, on December 25, banknotes with denominations of 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 drams will be introduced. Moreover, the banknote with the nominal value of 2000 drams is put into circulation for the first time. To recall, `on November 22, 1993, a national currency, dram, was put into circulation in independent Armenia. Over these 25 years, both the banking system and the Armenian dram have been able to go all the way and create a worthy story. It is not difficult to imagine what challenges newly independent Armenia faced then. The Central Bank had just formed monetary policy and functions of financial supervision, and at that time there were almost no state reserves. Under these conditions, the most difficult was the formation of confidence in the financial system and national currency. Nevertheless, thanks to the teamwork, it was possible to achieve confidence in the Armenian dram and financial system. Armenian dram is not only a means of payment, but first of all it is a symbol of state independence. The financial system of Armenia has proved that it can withstand serious challenges. Proof of this is the growth in deposits and loans in the most difficult period of the 2008 financial and economic crisis. So, if in 2008 the banks' credit portfolio was 615 billion drams and assets were 1 trillion drams, then by October 1, 2018 these figures had already reached 3.1 trillion drams ($ 6.4 billion) and 4.7 trillion drams ($ 9.8 billion), respectively. November 22 is also the day of the bank employee.