Expressing satisfaction with the economic policies of the Armenian authorities, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has disbursed a fresh €60 million installment of a large-scale loan designed to help the country cope with the ongoing economic crisis. While announcing the release of the fresh stand-by arrangement (SBA) tranche, Takatoshi Kato, the IMF’s deputy managing director said: The authorities have fully implemented their economic program, which calls for the continuation of fiscal and monetary easing and a flexible exchange rate. The visit of an IMF mission led by Mark Lewis to Yerevan in mid-September, had already anticipated the latest disbursement. Lewis hailed the authorities for their very good performance in managing the crisis. Lewis pointed out that the government has managed to attract more than €1.5 billion in foreign loans that have enabled it to mostly offset a serious shortfall in tax revenues resulting from the recession. He also commended the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) for seeking to stimulate bank credit to Armenian firms while maintaining the relative stability of the country’s financial system.