Minister: At yearend of 2016 Armenia`s industry to demonstrate 6-7% growth 

ArmInfo. At the yearend of 2016, Armenia's industry will demonstrate 6-7% growth, Armenian Minister of Economic Development and Investments Suren Karayan told reporters after the Government's meeting on December 22. He noted that services and exports will also increase.  

As regards the economic activity indices recently publicized by the Armenian National Statistics Service, which says that according to the preliminary data economy grew by 0.6% in Jan-Nov 2016 versus Jan-Nov 2015, Karayan said that the low indicators were due to specification of the data in the agrarian sector. 

Suren Karayan praised both Armenia's EEU membership and the results of the 100-day activity of the new Prime Minister. "Armenia's EEU membership is already giving positive results. Exports to the EEU member states have grown. The private sector also demonstrates that new actors and new investors have emerged on the market," he said.  

It should be noted that the growth of economic activity in the second half of the year began to slow down. Thus, in Jan- June 2016 economic activity made up 4.8%, in Jan-July - 3%, in Jan-Aug - 2.4%, in Jan-Sept - 1.6%, in Jan-Oct - 0.4%. However, in November 2016 versus Nov 2015 the indicator grew by 2.3%. In Jan-Nov 2016, services grew by 7.8% versus Jan-Nov 2015, and industry - by 6.8% versus Jan-Nov 2015 (up 3% and 4.6% respectively a year before).  Trade increased by 0.3% (down 7.1% a year before). In Jan-Nov 2016, trade took the lead in absolute terms - 1.9 trillion AMD ($4.05 bln). The following sectors ranked next: industry - 1.3 trillion AMD ($2.7 bln), services - 1.1 trillion AMD ($2.4 bln), agriculture - 836.1 bln AMD ($1.7 bln), construction - 320.2 bln AMD ($666.6 mln). In Jan- Nov 2016, the electricity output in Armenia made up 6614.6 mln kWh, including 623.2 mln kWh in November alone.

In Jan-Nov 2016, the foreign trade turnover of Armenia totaled 2195.9 bln AMD ($4576.3 mln), with an 8% year-over- year growth. Exports grew by 21.2% to 778.1 bln AMD ($1621.7 mln), and imports - by 2% to 1417.8 bln AMD ($2954.6 mln).

At the same time, economist Tatoul Manaseryan says that Armenia is the only country that has increased its exports to the market of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Exports of food from Armenia to the EEU increased 1.6-fold, agricultural products - 1.4-fold, textile and footwear - 2.5-fold. "This means that Armenian economy is recovering.  In addition, Armenia is the country with the biggest GDP growth. In Jan-June 2016 it was 2.8%, which was higher than the average growth in the EEU," he said.