Friday, July 24 2026 19:05
Karina Melikyan

Armenian FX Market (July 20–24): USD volume slips as Ruble surges and  Euro resumes after hiatus

Armenian FX Market (July 20–24): USD volume slips as Ruble surges and  Euro resumes after hiatus

ArmInfo.During the week of July 20–24, 2026, the Armenian foreign exchange interbank market experienced a  decline in dollar-denominated transactions, a  substantial surge in ruble-denominated deals, and a resumption of  euro transactions after a nearly five-month hiatus.

Specifically, dollar transactions reversed from a 7% increase to a  37.4% decline, while ruble transactions reversed from a 59.4% decline  to a significant 4.6-fold increase. As a result, weekly ruble  transactions significantly outpaced dollar volumes by a factor of 4,  and dominated euro transactions by 8 times— completely reversing the  previous week's ratio where dollar trades exceeded ruble deals by  nearly 2 times.

During the reporting week (July 20-24, 2026 compared to July 13-17,  2026), the dollar buying and selling trend accelerated downwards. For  euro transactions, an upward trend in buying was accompanied by a  clear decline in sales, while ruble transactions saw an acceleration  in the decline in buying while the sales trend reversed from upward  to downwards.

As a result, from July 20-24 of this year. the dram continued to  strengthen against both the dollar, from 364.3 to 363.3 AMD/USD, and  the euro, from 417 to 414.8 AMD/EUR, while weakening against the  ruble, from 4.22 to 4.25 AMD/RUB.. A year earlier, on July 24, 2025,  the dram exchange rate against the dollar was 383.8 AMD/USD, against  the euro – 450 AMD/EUR, and against the ruble – 4.83 AMD/RUB.   Compared to current rates, this indicates an annual revaluation of  the dram against the dollar, euro, and ruble by 5%, 8%, and 12%,  respectively.

According to the Central Bank of Armenia, from July 20 to 24, 2026,  ruble transactions were conducted daily, USD   trades occurred on  three out of five days, and a single EUR transaction took place.  Moreover, with the exception of Monday and Friday (July 20 and 24),  both dollar and ruble transactions were conducted simultaneously on  the remaining days (July 21, 22, and 23). As a result, the total  weekly dollar transaction volume was $6.7 million at an average  exchange rate of 367.45 AMD/USD (compared to 367.39 AMD/USD the week  before), the weekly ruble transaction volume was 2.129 billion rubles  at an average exchange rate of 4.67 AMD/RUS (compared to 4.72 AMD/RUS  the week before), and the volume of a single euro transaction was 3  million euros at an average exchange rate of 415.50 AMD/EUR. The  maximum dollar transaction volume was recorded on Thursday (July 23)  - $3 million, while the largest ruble transaction volume occurred on  Friday (July 24) - 750 million rubles.

On the intrabank foreign exchange market from July 20 to 24 of this  year, compared to the previous week (13-17.07.26), the decline in the  purchase and sale of dollars accelerated from 13.2-0.1% to  17.1-31.2%, for euro transactions, the exit of the purchase from a  27.3% decline to 51.1% growth was accompanied by a reversal of the  sales trend in the opposite direction - from 16.2% growth to 15%  decline, and for ruble transactions, an acceleration of the decline  in the purchase was observed from 3.5% to 9.1% with a reversal of the  sales trend from a significant 2-fold growth towards a 56.6% decline.  As a result, during the reporting week, $195.5 million was purchased  at an average rate of 364.55 AMD/USD, 59.1 million euros at an  average rate of 414.32 AMD/EUR, and 7.2 billion rubles at an average  rate of 4.54 AMD/RUB.  Additionally,  $173 million were sold at an  average rate of 367.27 AMD/USD, 54.2 million euros at an average rate  of 421.24 AMD/EUR, and 2.7 billion rubles at an average rate of 4.66  AMD/RUB. On the intra-bank currency market, the maximum volume of  dollar and ruble purchases was recorded on Monday (July 20 - $54.7  million and 1.9 billion rubles), then on Tuesday there were the  largest volumes of dollar, euro, and ruble sales (July 21 - $48.6  million, 13.5 million euros, and 690.6 million rubles), and at the  end of the week the maximum volume of euro purchases was recorded  (July 24 - over 16.9 million euros).

According to the Central Bank of Armenia, from January to May 2026,  the Central Bank intervened in the foreign exchange market totaling  $983 million, strengthening the exchange rate from 381.49 AMD/USD d  in December to 368.69 AMD/USD in May.

On the intrabank foreign exchange market from January to May 2026,  $3.5 billion, 859.4 million euros, and 180.7 billion rubles were  purchased, while $3.9 billion, 1.1 billion euros, and 67.1 billion  rubles were sold.  This resulted in a buying rate on the intra-bank  foreign exchange market in May of 367.19 AMD/USD, 427.04 AMD/EUR, and  4.97 AMD/RUB, and a selling rate of 369.75 AMD/USD, 433.87 AMD/EUR,  and 5.11 AMD/RUB, compared to December 2025 rates of 380.38 AMD/USD,  442.74 AMD/EUR, and 4.83 AMD/RUB for buying, and 382.62 AMD/USD,  449.26 AMD/EUR, and 4.91 AMD/RUB for selling.

USD transactions totaled $238.6 million, EUR transactions totaled 5.3  million, and RUB transactions totaled 15.5-16.3 billion on the  interbank currency market from January to May 2026. Moreover, no euro  transactions were carried out in March-May. During this period, the  dram weakened slightly against the ruble to 5.10 AMD/RUB and  strengthened against the dollar to 368.84 AMD/USD, up from 4.88  AMD/RUB and 381.33 AMD/USD in December 2025. 

Recall, ruble transactions on the Armenian interbank currency market  began on March 14, 2022. On the currency exchange platform, dollar  transactions worth $22.2 million were carried out in January-May  2026, accompanied by a strengthening of the dram to 368.51 AMD/USD in  May from 387.75 AMD/USD in October, when dollar transactions last  appeared on the exchange a year earlier.