Armenia economy ministry 'comprehensively' analyzing situation as ruble plummets in oil market chaos

YEREVAN, MARCH 9, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Economy of Armenia is carrying out a comprehensive research regarding the global oil price decrease-related depreciation of the Russian ruble in order to be able to relay accurate signals to Armenian manufactures and exporters, Ministry of Economy spokesperson Anna Ohanyan told ARMENPRESS when asked how the situation could impact the Armenian economy.

Ohanyan said since Russia is Armenia’s main trade partner and the market of a significant portion of Armenian products is the Eurasian Economic Union, namely Russia, therefore the changes taking place there can’t bypass the Armenian economy.

“The ruble’s depreciation in other equal conditions against other main currencies could impact Armenian producers’ competitiveness. Everything depends on to what extent these changes are short-term or long-term. Given the fact the changes were preceded with global oil price declines, we should wait for the ruble’s purchasing power to get restored together with the oil prices,” Ohanyan said.

She noted that short-term assessment can’t reflect all sides of the situation in such events. “Therefore we are comprehensively analyzing the situation in order to relay accurate signals to our producers and exporters,” Ohanyan said, adding that the economy ministry is closely following the developments and soon they will present their assessments in order for the expectations in the private sector to be objective and in line with the situation.

“It is obvious that the developments seen these days once again emphasize the importance of diversification of our products and export markets,” Ohanyan added.

Oil prices suffered an historic collapseovernight after Saudi Arabia shocked the market by launching a price war against onetime ally Russia.

The Russian ruble plummeted almost 10% overnight, falling to its lowest level in more than four years, as oil prices crashed following thebreakdownof the Russia-Saudi Arabia pact to limit production.

The ruble wastradingat a low of 74.9 to $1 on Monday morning.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan