Armenia’s commercial banks, with the support of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), are accumulating super profits at the expense of the poor people. Chairman of the Bright Armenia Party (BAP), Edmon Marukyan, stated this in front of the CBA building—and as part of their election campaign for the June 7 parliamentary elections.

The politician recalled that no measures have been taken to reduce high interest rates in Armenia over the past 5 years. There was a similar initiative only in 2019, but the government had rejected it.

Marukyan noted that the terrible truth about the scheme being used was revealed through RFE/RL. Accordingly, the CBA provides loans to commercial banks in Armenia at an interest rate of 6-7 percent, while these commercial banks provide loans to people at an interest rate of 15-20 percent.

Even more shocking is the response given by the CBA to RFE/RL’s question. Marukyan said that the essence of the response is that low interest rates can lead to an increase in the number of non-returnable loans. In this regard, the politician suggests that the interest rate ceiling be limited in Armenia after the June 7 elections. The CBA believes that this will be harmful, but similar examples exist in developed countries as well.

Marukyan also suggested limiting the right of former public sector and CBA employees to work in commercial banks, since former officials, having moved to commercial banks, often use the experience gained in the state system against the state itself.

Another problem in Armenia is bank loans issued in the names of persons without their knowledge. “Commercial banks [in Armenia] issue loans without people’s knowledge. While the investigation is ongoing, property is blocked, and there is no solution. It can't be that a loan is issued to an uninformed person through the fault of a commercial bank. In one case, it was completely about a person with an extremely low income, to whom no bank would provide a loan,” the BAP leader noted.

“Everyone thinks only about getting rich. Huge sums of money are distributed in [Armenia’s] commercial banks. And how did they find common ground with the Central Bank?” Marukyan asked, and promised the people to become their voice and “hammer” to protect their interests.

According to him, the political team that came to power in Armenia through the revolution in 2018 has long since begun to protect corporate interests and is buried in corruption. As per Marukyan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is also aware of what has been done, as evidenced by the fact that all state programs are being tried to be implemented through banks so that the latter can work on that account.

“We are not against the development of the banking system [in Armenia]. We are against banks getting rich and making super profits at the expense of poor people,” the BAP leader concluded.

Source: https://news.am/en/news/1035285