YEREVAN, AUGUST 8, NOYAN TAPAN. The appreciation of the Armenian dram gathered a new speed recently. On August 8, the dollar's exchange rate fell below 400 drams: a US dollar can be bought for 398 drams. The exchange rates of the Russian ruble and the euro are also declining: up to 14.8 and 527 drams respectively. The current dram/dollar exhange rate is an unprecedented one for the past 12 months. The price of a US dollar made about 400 drams in November 1994 and October 1995. It was the first relatively stable exchange rate of the Armenian currency following the dram's rapid decline about six months after its being put in circulation. At the moment of its putting in circulation (November 1993), the dram's exchange rate was set at 14 drams against one dollar, which was excessively high as was later revealed. From mid 1994, the Armenian dram depreciated against the US dollar (with some deviations from this tendency). The tendency changed in the first months of 2004 when the dram started strengthening slowly. The highest price of the dollar (about 590 drams) was registered in February-March 2004.

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