Bagrat Asatryan
Bagrat A. Asatryan | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 2, 1956 Armenian SSR |
| Occupation(s) | Economist, professor |
| Years active | 1980s–present |
| Known for | Head of the Central Bank of Armenia (1994–1998) |
Bagrat A. Asatryan (, born February 2, 1956), alternatively spelled Bagrat Asatrian or Assatrian, is an Armenian economist who served as the head of the Central Bank of Armenia from 1994 until 1998. He was instrumental in establishing the foundations of Armenia’s contemporary financial infrastructure. On February 3, 1998, during a political upheaval connected to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Asatryan stepped down alongside President Levon Ter-Petrossian and other top government figures.
Early life
Asatryan was born in the Armenian SSR and completed his economics degree at Yerevan State University in 1977. He obtained his doctoral degree in economics in 1985 from the Institute of Economics within the Academy of Sciences of Armenia.
Life after independence
In the late 1980s, Asatryan was actively involved in Armenia’s revolutionary efforts and became a member of the Armenian National Movement. In 1990, he was elected as a deputy to the Supreme Council, where he led the Standing Committee on Health and Social Affairs. He was appointed chairman of the Central Bank in 1994 and subsequently elected to the National Assembly of Armenia in 1995. During his tenure, he oversaw the introduction and stabilization of the Armenian dram (AMD) and developed a new banking framework suited to Armenia’s emerging market economy.
Asatryan was responsible for drafting the Central Bank’s inaugural Monetary Policy in 1995 and played a pivotal role in proposing significant banking legislation. This included laws concerning "The Central Bank," "Banks and Banking," "Bank Bankruptcy," and "Bank Secrecy," all of which were passed by the National Assembly in 1996 to govern Armenia’s banking system.
After resigning in 1998, Asatryan held leadership roles such as President of the Association of Banks of Armenia (1998–1999) and Executive Director at ArmimpexBank (1999–2003). Since 1999, he has been a full professor at Yerevan State University’s Faculty of Economics.
He has published more than twenty academic works and led a group that produced an extensive textbook titled Banking (2005), which details the history, fundamental concepts, and market transition of Armenia’s banking sector. Bagrat Asatryan is married and has two sons.