In Jan-Apr 2016 economic activity in Armenia experienced 6% year- over-year rise due to high growth rates in industry and services

ArmInfo. In Jan-Apr 2016 the economic activity in Armenia grew by 6% versus Jan-Apr 2015 amid 22.2% rise in exports and 3.5% drop in imports. In April 2016 versus April 2015, the economic activity grew by 6.8% (by 4% versus March 2016). A year before in Jan-Apr 2015 versus the same period of 2014 economic activity grew by 2.7% and 3.2% in April 2015 versus April 2014 (3.4% in April alone). To note for comparison, that in 2014 the economic activity grew by 3.3% y-o-y in Jan-April and 1.7% in April.

By the preliminary data of the National Statistical Service of Armenia, in Jan-Apr 2016 versus Jan-Apr 2015, industry grew by 10%, services - by 9.3%, agriculture - by 4.1%, electricity output - by 3.5%. Meanwhile, trade declined by 0.7%, and construction - by 7.4% y-o-y.

In Jan-Apr 2016 versus Jan-Apr 2015, the industrial price index dropped by 3.4%. It decreased by 1.8% in April 2016 versus April 2015, and by 0.5% versus March 2016. In Jan-April 2015 versus the same period of 2014 the industrial price index grew by 4.2%, in April 2015 versus April 2014 by 0.8% and in April 2015 alone dropped by 0.9%.

In April 2016 alone, the gross output of the agrarian sector rose by 55.7% (versus 46.6% rise in April 2015). Industry and power engineering grew by 4.7% and 5.6%, respectively (versus 0.4% and 7.5% respective growth a year before). Construction, trade and services declined by 9.3%, 2.4% and 2.6%, respectively (versus 3.5% growth, 4% drop and 2% drop, respectively, a year before).

In April 2016 versus April 2015, industry grew by 13.2%, services - by 7.6%, agriculture - by 5.4%, trade - by 0.1%, while construction and power engineering declined by 16.5% and 0.8%, respectively.

According to statistical data in Jan-Apr 2016, trade amounted to 601.1 bln AMD ($1.2 bln), industry - 421 bln AMD ($864.8 mln), services - 368.2 bln AMD ($756.3 mln), agriculture - 117.7 bln AMD ($241.8 mln), construction - 61.9 bln AMD ($127.1 mln). The electricity output totaled 2566.9 mln kWh, including 643.1 mln kWh in April alone.

In the meantime, in Jan-Apr 2016 the foreign trade turnover of Armenia totaled 709.7 bln AMD ($1457.7 mln), with a 4.2% growth versus Jan- Apr 2015. Exports increased by 22.2% y-o-y to 250.5 bln AMD ($514.5 mln), and imports dropped by 3.5% y-o-y to 459.2 bln AMD ($943.2 mln). In April 2016 the foreign trade turnover dropped by 8.2%, with export dropping by 9.3% and import dropping by 7.6%. As compared to April 2015, the foreign trade turnover grew by 8.4%, with imports rising by 6.6% and exports growing by 12.1%.

In April 2016 the average AMD/USD exchange rate was 481.27 AMD/$1, and in Jan-Apr 2016 - 486.82 AMD/$1 versus 474.07 AMD/$1 in April 2015 and 476.46 AMD/$1 in Jan-Apr 2015. In April 2014 the rate totaled 414.31 AMD/$1, in Jan-April 2014-411.85 AMD/$1.