ArmInfo.The Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSD) prepared a new working paper,  "Assessing the Potential Impact of Natural Disasters on Debt Sustainability in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan."

ArmInfo. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) withdrew from the capital of INECOBANK by selling its share (23,002 shares or 12.6%) to the  majority shareholders Avetis Baloyan and Karen Safaryan. This is  evidenced by the information posted on the website of the Central  Bank of the Republic of Armenia on actual changes in the share  capital of INECOBANK.

ArmInfo.  In the banking system of Armenia, the concentration of assets among the top five increased over 2013-2018 from 47.7% to 55.3%, although it decreased compared to  2017 by 0.1%.  Among the main assets are Ameriabank, Ardshinbank,  Armbusinessbank, ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank and INECOBANK.

ArmInfo. Despite the high  ratioof capital adequacy, at least among the largest players in the  Armenian banking market, the opportunities for its optimal use are  severely limited, Financial Director of one of the largest banks in  Armenia, former Minister of Finance David Sargsyan stated at a  banking conference organized by Fitch Ratings international agency  last week in Yerevan.

ArmInfo. In Armenia, the number of plastic cards increased by 16% per annum to July 1, 2018, to 1.851 million units, against the decline of 9% a year earlier.  Adequately, the annual growth in the total volume of plastic  transactions sharply accelerated from 7.2% in the first half of 2017  to 23% in the first half of 2018, exceeding 863.5 billion drams. This  is evidenced by the data of the Central Bank of Armenia.

ArmInfo.The Armenian banking system sent 27.6 billion drams to the state treasury in the first half of 2018, which is 26% higher than the figure of a year ago. Of  this amount, over 87.3% or 24.1 billion drams was paid on direct  taxes (incl. tax on profits and income tax), with an annual growth of  40.6%. The top five banks of taxpayers - Ameriabank, ACBA-Credit  Agricole Bank, INECOBANK, Ardshinbank and VTB Bank (Armenia), sent to  the state budget in the first half of 2018 a total of 15.3 billion  drams (annual growth of 34.2%), of which 14 billion drams - on direct  taxes (annual growth of 33.3%). According to the RA State Revenue  Committee, in the first hundred of the largest taxpayers of Armenia  in the first half of 2018, out of 17 operating banks, 13 as many as a  year ago fell.

ArmInfo. The customer base of the Armenian banking system totaled 2 446 724  individuals and 80 182 legal entities as of April 1, 2018. According  to the Central Bank, provided by the National Statistical Service of  Armenia, a total of 2,526,906 customers had in the Armenian banks  4,703,539 accounts, of which 4,537,222 - physical accounts and 166  317 - accounts of legal entities.

ArmInfo. In Armenia, the number of plastic cards increased in the first quarter of 2018 at 14.9% per annum - up to 1.785 million units, against the decline of 10.8% a year earlier.  Adequately, the annual growth in the total volume of plastic transactions from 0.8% in the first quarter of 2017 to 38.6% in the first quarter of 2018 was dramatically accelerated, making 440.6 bln AMD. This is evidenced by the data of the Central Bank of Armenia.

ArmInfo. In the banking system of Armenia, the concentration of assets among the top five leaders in this indicator increased in 2012-2017 from 46.5% to 55.2%. This amount of assets is distributed between Ameriabank, Armbusinessbank, Ardshinbank, ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank and INECOBANK.  According to the Financial Rating of the Armenian Banks as of January 1, 2018, prepared by the Information Company ArmInfo, TOP-5 for credit investments includes the same banks with a total share in the total market value of 59.1% of the total loan portfolio. In 2012, the share of the leading five is 47.1%.

ArmInfo. The share of foreign capital in the total authorized capital of Armenian banks decreased from 2014 to 2017 from 74.6% to 61.8%. During this period, four participants emerged from the banking market, of which three were "daughters" of foreign banks. This is the German ProCredit Bank, Kazakhstan's BTA and Russian Gazprombank.

ArmInfo. In Armenia, the number of plastic cards increased by 9.2% in 2017 to 1.715 million units, against the decline of 9.2% a year earlier. Adequately this has been improved by the trend of the total volume of plastic transactions with the exit from the 2.1% decline in 2016 by 11.8% growth in 2017 - to 1.6 trillion AMD. Central Bank's data reads.

ArmInfo. Contrary to the slowdown in the growth of lending, the banks of Armenia are making quite a high profit. According to the Express-Ranking of Armenian Banks, prepared by the Rating service of the IArmInfo Information Company , the growth rate of crediting in 2016-2017 from 16.5% slowed to 4.3%, however, the aggregate net profit of the banking system from negative dynamics in 26.4% in 2016 went to the positive 15.6%. It is noteworthy that the investments of banks in securities increased in 2017 more significantly - by 22.3%, rather than lending volumes, and at the same time, the balances on nostro accounts (including in the Central Bank) increased significantly.

ArmInfo. The customer base of Armenia's banking system totaled 2,364,116 individuals and 79,823 legal entities by October 2017. According to the Central Bank data, provided to ArmInfo by the National Statistical Service, a total of 2,443,939 customers had 4,481,182 accounts with Armenian banks, of which 4,316,133 are physical accounts and 165,043 are accounts of legal entities.

ArmInfo. For Armenia, artly staying in the transport blockade ,  the only overland direction for the delivery of Armenian exports to the Russian market, which is Armenia's key export partner, is the pass of the Caucasian ridge -Upper  Lars checkpoint. Considering  the low level of capacity, in particular, in the winter, recently in terms of export growth, a lot of talk is being done about searching for alternative ways. From time to time, experts present their vision to the public regarding freight forwarding from Armenia to the Russian market, indicating alternative directions, in particular, repeatedly mentioning in this vein a transport section passing through the territory of Abkhazia. According to Gagik Agadzhanyan, executive director and co-founder of the freight-forwarding company of APAVEN, who has been involved in cargo transportation for 25 years, Armenia "runs ahead of the locomotive" in this matter. In the conversation with the correspondent of ArmInfo G. Aghajanyan explained this his position, trying to objectively, and not otherwise, to present the situation and ways of its solution.

ArmInfo. The banking system  of Armenia in January- September 2017 sent 31.7 billion drams to the  state treasury, which is 13.6% higher than the figure of a year ago.  Of this amount, over 89.3% or 28.3 billion drams was paid for direct  taxes (including income tax and income tax), with an annual growth of  12.8%. According to the RA State Revenue Committee, in the first  hundred of the largest taxpayers of Armenia in the first 9 months of  2017, out of 17 operating banks, 12 (12 out of 19 of those operating  in the same period in 2016) fell. Among them in the top five banks of  taxpayers - Ardshinbank, ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, VTB Bank  (Armenia), Ameriabank and Armbusinessbank, which figured in the top  five and a year earlier. Over the first 9 months of 2017, the top  five banks sent 16.5 billion drams to the state treasury (annual  growth of 18.7%), of which 15.1 billion drams - on direct taxes  (annual growth of 18.9%).

ArmInfo. The significant  revival and growth of the Russian economy has a beneficial effect on  the Armenian economy. Economist Tatul Manaseryan expressed this  opinion during the round table "The Role of the Expert and  Educational Community of Armenia in the Development of Eurasian  Economic Integration", adding that the Armenian economy is gradually  emerging from the protracted process of slow and low growth.

ArmInfo. The replenishment of  Armenian banks' capital base by 15% per annum on July 1, 2017, or by  85.1 billion drams ($ 177.1 million) made it possible to accelerate  the credit growth rate to 16.6% from last year's 9.5%. Activation of  banks in the credit market, in turn, increased net profit in the  first half of 2017 by 49.5% per annum - up to 19.2 billion drams ($  39.9 million).

ArmInfo. In the aggregate loan  portfolio of Armenian banks, the NPL share decreased by July 1, 2017  year on year from 13.2% to 9.8%, reaching 269 billion AMD in absolute  terms. However, five banks, nevertheless, overshoot this indicator  for the maximum limit of the critical limit - 22-33% against the  internationally acceptable 10-15%.

ArmInfo.In the first half of  the year, the banking system of Armenia sent 21.9 billion AMD to the  state treasury, which is 12.9% higher than the figure of a year ago.  Of this amount, over 89% or 19.6 billion was paid on direct taxes  (including income tax and income tax), with an annual growth of  12.6%.

ArmInfo. Amulsar gold-bearing quartzite deposit located 14km away from resort town of Jermuk is considered to have the largest gold reserves in Armenia. Geologists discovered the gold-bearing deposit yet in 2006. During the following ten years, they had studied the possibilities, pros and cons of starting operation activities.In 2014, the Government of Armenia granted Mining Right to Lydian Armenia CJSC. In 2015, the Project’s environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) was approved. Despite that comprehensive,almost 6,000-page document, the company is constantly facing harsh criticism by environmental organizations who do not believe and some do not want to believe in successful implementation of Lydian’s biodiversity conservation measures.In an interview with ArmInfo, Armen Stepanyan, Lydian Armenia Sustainability Director speaks about possible environmental impacts of mine operation and mitigation measures planned.