ArmInfo.During the week of August 3 to 7, 2026, activities on Armenia's interbank foreign exchange market were characterized by a higher volume of Russian ruble transactions compared to US dollars and euros. Specifically, the decline in dollar transactions accelerated from 40.3% to 62.5%, while the trend in ruble transactions increased from a 57% decline to a 98% increase.
Euro transactions experienced a similar turnaround, shifting from a 33.3% decline to a robust threefold increase (approx. 300% growth). As a result, ruble transactions continued to significantly outweigh dollar transactions, with the gap widening from 3 times to 15 times Ruble transactions also maintained dominance over euro transactions, though the gap narrowed from 5 times to 3.3 times. Notably, Euro transactions notably exceeded dollar transactions by nearly 5 times.
Concurrently, on the intrabank foreign exchange market, the dollar buying and selling trend reversed downwards during the reporting week (August 3-7, 2026 compared to July 27-31, 2026). For euro transactions, an increase in buying was accompanied by a decline in the selling trend, while for ruble transactions, an acceleration in buying and a decline in the selling trend were observed.
As a result, from August 3 to 7, 2026, dram began to strengthen against both the dollar, from 365.5 to 365.3 AMD/USD and the ruble, from 4.35 to 4.28 AMD/RUB, while continuing to weaken against the euro, from 419.5 to 421 AMD/EUR. A year earlier, on August 7, 2025, the dram exchange rate against the dollar was 383.5 AMD/USD, against the euro 447.5 AMD/EUR, and against the ruble 4.79 AMD/RUB. Compared to current rates, this indicates an annual revaluation of the dram against the dollar, euro, and ruble by 5%, 6%, and 11%, respectively.
According to the Central Bank of Armenia, from August 3 to 7 of this year, ruble transactions were conducted daily on the interbank currency market in rubles, and dollar and euro transactions were conducted only once. Moreover, on Wednesday (August 5), both ruble and euro transactions were conducted simultaneously, and on Friday (August 7), both ruble and dollar transactions were conducted. As a result, the volume of a single dollar transaction amounted to $1.5 million at an average exchange rate of 367.30 AMD/USD (compared to 367.63 AMD/USD the week before), the volume of a single euro transaction amounted to 6 million euros at an average exchange rate of 422.13 AMD/EUR (compared to 415.60 AMD/EUR the week before), and the weekly volume of ruble transactions amounted to 1.825 billion rubles at an average exchange rate of 4.53 AMD/RUB (compared to 4.64 AMD/RUB the week before). The maximum volume of ruble transactions was carried out on Monday (August 3) - 650 million rubles.
During the week of August 3 to 7, 2026, the Armenian intrabank foreign exchange market experienced notable shifts across major currencies compared to the previous week (July 27 31, 2026): US Dollar Transactions: the previous upward trend of 9.4% to 14.4% growth in both buying and selling reversed into a decline of 21.8% and 11.2%, respectively; Euro Transactions: purchases rebounded sharply from a 32.5% decline to 53% growth, while sales reversed course from an 8.3% increase to a 4% decline and Russian Ruble Transactions: buying momentum accelerated from 11% to 32% growth, whereas sales shifted from a 44% increase to a 14.2% decline. As a result, during the reporting week, $167.3 million was purchased at an average rate of 364.81 AMD/USD, 61.03 million euros at an average rate of 418.38 AMD/EUR, and 10.5 billion rubles at an average rate of 4.44 AMD/RUB. Additionally, $175.7 million were sold at an average rate of 367.49 AMD/USD, 56.5 million euros at an average rate of 424.88 AMD/EUR, and 3.3 billion rubles at an average rate of 4.57 AMD/RUB. The intrabank foreign exchange market recorded the maximum volume of euro sales and ruble purchases and sales on Monday (August 3 - 14.1 million euros, 3.2 billion - 731.2 million rubles). The largest volumes of dollar purchases and sales occurred on Tuesday (August 4 - $40.7-39.1 million.). The maximum volume of euro purchases was recorded on Wednesday (August 5 - 21.5 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 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 367.19AMD/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 FX 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 FX 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.
