UN General Assembly
1994

privatization of small and medium businesses as well as large enterprises is well under way. In late 1993, with the collapse of the rouble zone, Armenia faced a monetary crisis. The uncontrollable flow of old Soviet roubles into Armenia and Armenia’s subsequent inability to control monetary policy on its own territory forced the Government in November 1993 prematurely to introduce a national currency, the dram. The Government is currently implementing a programme based on controlling and lowering the inflation rate, enforcing a strict budget, controlling fiscal expenditures and targeting assistance to the most vulnerable groups. Basic reforms have been undertaken in the banking sector, the first of which was to break down the mono- bank system of central planning into a two-tiered system comprising a central bank and a group of commercial banks. In Armenia, as in all the emerging democracies, there is no historical precedent for the economic transition. It requires lasting commitment and patience as well as the substantial support of the international community. Of course neither short- and medium-term adjustment programmes nor long-term development