Dollar transactions on Armenia’s foreign exchange interbank market fell in the week of September 7-11, while ruble-denominated deals increased. According to the Central Bank of Armenia, no euro transactions were conducted for the second consecutive week.
The weekly volume of dollar deals declined by 13.3%, while the ruble segment moved from a 47% drop to 30.2% growth. As a result, ruble trades continued to exceed dollar trades, with the gap widening from 1.4 times to 2.2 times.
Over the reporting week, the dram strengthened against the US dollar from 363.3 to 362.5 drams per $1. Against the euro, the exchange rate remained unchanged at 420.8 drams per euro, while the dram weakened against the ruble from 4.07 to 4.19 drams per ruble.
On September 11, 2025, the exchange rate stood at 383.5 drams per $1, 448 drams per euro and 4.47 drams per ruble. Compared with current levels, this points to an annual appreciation of the dram by 5% against the dollar and by 6% against both the euro and the ruble.
Central Bank data show that between September 7 and 11, dollar trades were conducted twice on the interbank market and ruble trades four times. Dollar and ruble transactions took place simultaneously on Wednesday and Friday, September 9 and 11. The interbank FX platform was completely inactive on Thursday, September 10.
For the week as a whole, dollar transactions totaled $6.5 million at an average exchange rate of 363.72 drams per $1, compared with 364.46 drams a week earlier. Ruble transactions reached 1.225 billion rubles at an average rate of 4.24 drams per RUB, against 4.19 drams per RUB in the previous week. The largest daily volume for both dollar and ruble deals was recorded on September 9, at $3.5 million and 400 million rubles respectively.
Trends also shifted on the intrabank foreign exchange market. Compared with August 31-September 4, buying and selling trends for both the dollar and the euro turned downward, while ruble operations moved into growth on both the purchase and sales sides.
During the reporting week, banks bought $184.6 million at an average rate of 362.49 drams per $1, 68.3 million euros at 419.32 drams per EUR, and 9.02 billion rubles at 4.17 drams per RUB. They sold $177.8 million at an average of 364.57 drams per $1, 47.9 million euros at 425.70 drams per EUR, and 3.7 billion rubles at 4.28 drams per RUB.
The largest intrabank volumes by day were as follows: on September 7, the highest ruble purchases at 2.1 billion rubles; on September 9, the biggest dollar and euro sales at $41.5 million and 12.5 million euros; on September 10, the largest dollar and euro purchases at $46.9 million and 33.5 million euros; and on September 11, the highest euro and ruble sales at 10.7 million euros and 1.2 billion rubles.
The Central Bank also noted that in the first half of 2026 it carried out $1.161 billion in FX interventions, all of them purchases. Over that period, the exchange rate strengthened from 381.49 drams per $1 in December to 368.20 drams per $1 in June.
In the first half of 2026, banks bought $4.5 billion, 1.1 billion euros and 224.4 billion rubles on the intrabank market, while sales amounted to $5.05 billion, 1.4 billion euros and 83.7 billion rubles. On the interbank market during the same period, dollar deals totaled $334.3 million, euro deals 5.3 million euros and ruble deals 21.4-22.2 billion rubles. No euro trades were conducted on the interbank market from March through June.
The source also recalls that ruble trading on Armenia’s FX interbank market began on March 14, 2022.
