According to FinPort, Armenia's gross international reserves (GIR) fell by 14.2% year-over-year, reaching $3.574 billion as of October 2024. This significant drop of $592.2 million contrasts with an 11.4% increase a year earlier, moving further away from the historical peak of $4.2 billion recorded in August 2023.
The majority of the reserves consist of foreign assets in freely convertible currency (FCC), totaling $3.565 billion, while special drawing rights (SDR) in the IMF account for $9.2 million. Over the year, FCC assets decreased by 14.4%, whereas the SDR portion rose 15.3 times.
In the first nine months of 2024, the GIR experienced a slight decrease of 0.8% ($28.3 million) due to a 1% decline in FCC assets, while the SDR share in the IMF increased 17.5 times. In the third quarter, GIR grew by 6.5% ($219.4 million).
Throughout 2024, reserves showed fluctuating trends: an 11% drop from January to May was followed by a 12% increase in June-August, after which a 1% decline was observed in September.
In October 2024, the IMF announced an additional provision of 18.4 million SDR (approximately $24.5 million) to Armenia under a stand-by loan agreement.
Once approved by the IMF Executive Board in December, the total accessible amount will be 92 million SDR (around $122.7 million), aimed at covering Armenia’s 2024 budget deficit.
Notably, the share of monetary gold in Armenia's international reserves has remained at zero since December 2003.
