In a recently released statement by the Council of Armenia’s Central Bank declared that as of March 3, 2009 it will no longer intervene in propping up the exchange rate of the Armenian dram vis-à-vis major world currencies. And that it will return to a floating rate policy. In part, the Central Bank’s statement reads: Taking into account the continuous deterioration of trade conditions in the current stage of the global financial and economic crisis and the cessation of growth rates of capital in-flows, the Central Bank’s Council, at its March 3, 2009 session, has decided to limit the Bank’s intervention in the foreign exchange market and return to a floating exchange policy. This will allow for the rate to be based according to current macroeconomic fundamentals, leading to essential improvement in the country’s foreign competitiveness and will stimulate the process of new job creation. The Central Bank also noted that based on its analyses it forecast the average dram to dollar exchange rate to fall within the 360-380 range for the year 2009.