YEREVAN, MARCH 30, NOYAN TAPAN. A 1.7% decline in the settlement exchange rate of the Armenian dram against the US dollar was registerted in Armenia in March 2007 on December 2006 in parallel with a 2% growth in consumer prices. The growth of consumer prices and of the settlement exchange rate in March 2006 on December 2005 made 2.8% and 0.4% respectively. According to the RA National Statistical service, the 0.6% price fall in Armenia's consumer market in March on February 2007 was accompanied by a 0.7% increase in the settlement exchange rate of the Armenian dram against the US dollar (average on March 1-28). The average settlement exchange rate of the Armenian dram against the US dollar made 358.32 drams in March 2007, which is by 20.5% lower than the respective index of March 2006 (451 drams).

---