ABOUT THE CBA
History
Money Cycle in Armenian SSR
After establishment of the Soviet regime in Armenia the Revolutionary Committee and the People's Commissariat of Finance (PCF) issued a decree on December 10, 1920 to nationalize the private banks and withdraw the currency then in circulation. The Government of the Soviet Armenia declared that circulation of Soviet Russian banknotes be mandatory.
On December 28, 1920, the Order No. 5 of the PCF renamed the Yerevan branch of Russian State Bank into the State Bank of the SSRA and into the People's Bank of the SSRA the next day. V. K. Moravski was appointed as Governor of it. In August, 1921, the People's Bank terminated activities and its power was assigned to the PCF.
The banknotes of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia were put into circulation in 1921. Before issuing these, checks worth of 10000 rubles of the Yerevan branch of the State Bank were put into circulation. Later on, the banknotes in nominal value 5000 and 10000 rubles of 1921 sample were issued.
The issues of 1922 represented the banknotes in nominal value 25000, 100000, 500000, 1000000 rubles, and the bill worth of 5000000 rubles.
In 1921 the State Bank of USSR was established, with the office and branches created also in Armenia in 1924.
On March 22, 1922, the State Bank of SSRA was established. The first Governor was Martin Sahakyan who held this position until 1924.
In 1923 the Soviet Republics of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan united to constitute the Federative Union of Transcaucasian Socialist Republics (FUTSR). The Union issued in 1923 banknotes in nominal value 1000, 5000, 10000, 25000, 50000, 100000, 250000, 500000, 1000000, 5000000 and 10000000 rubles.
In 1924 the FUTSR was restructured into the Transcaucasian Soviet Socialist Federative Republic and this organization issued the following banknotes in nominal value 25, 50, 75, 100, 250 million and 1 and 10 billion rubles.
After formation of the Soviet Union, a monetary reform was passed with an April 15, 1924 Government decree issuing resolution on substitution of all types of banknotes in circulation in Transcaucasia for those of unified samples of the Soviet Union.
Coins were put into circulation after a long break. The coins worth of 1, 2, 3 and 5 copper copecks; 10, 15, 20 base-alloy silver copecks, and 50 silver copecks and 1 ruble were minted. The copper coin of the smallest value of half copeck was minted in period 1925-1928.
The first Soviet gold coin (1 chervonets) was minted in 1923. This conformed in all its features to the gold coin worth of 10 rubles of Russian Empire. It almost never appeared in circulation and was used only in foreign trade transactions. In 1931 the 10, 15 20 copecks coins were minted of copper-nickel alloy.
The first Soviet coins were diverse. In circulation were the Soviet chervonets (10 rubles) and the rubles designed to portray the symbols of the Soviet ideology. The types of banknotes of this period often substituted each other.
A monetary reform was passed in 1947 with a key objective to promote to a quick recovery of the war-suffered economy, withdrawal of false money from circulation and its substitution.
The monetary reform of 1961 was aimed at altering the price scale (10:1), improvement of money circulation and issue of banknotes of new design. New series of coins: 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 50 copecks and 1 ruble were put into circulation. The series of banknotes consisted of 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 rubles in nominal value.
There were 52 branches of the Republican Office of the State Bank of the USSR in Armenia in 1987.
In 1988 the Republican Office was renamed into the Bank of the Republic of Armenia of the State Bank of the USSR.
To regulate the money circulation, the banknotes in nominal value 50 and 100 rubles were withdrawn from circulation and substituted by new ones in 1991. Later on, banknotes of the 1991 sample in nominal value 200, 500 and 1000 rubles were put into circulation. Since February 1992, price liberalization commenced, which led to rise in prices and devaluation of the ruble. Banknotes of the 1992 samples in nominal value 200, 500, 1000, 5000 and 10000 rubles were put into circulation.