ArmInfo. In Armenia, the trade turnover in January-February 2018 to the same period in 2017 accelerated the growth rates from 9.6% to 17.4%, amounting to 359 billion drams ($ 745.1 million). According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, only in February 2017 the trade turnover in Armenia increased by 29.1% to 201.7 billion drams ($ 419 million).
This trend is due to the acceleration in the growth of wholesale and retail trade with the continuing upward trend in car trade. In particular, wholesale trade in January-February showed an annual growth of 34.1% - up to 164.5 billion drams, against growth of 15.7% a year earlier. The volume of purchase / sale of cars in January-February increased by 20.2%, amounting to 14.7 billion drams, against a more significant growth a year earlier - by 45.6%. In February alone, the turnover of automobile trade increased by 38.3% to 8.5 billion drams, and wholesale trade - by 46% to 97.3 billion drams.
According to statistical data, the retail trade turnover in January-February 2018 to the same period of 2017 accelerated the growth rates from 3.7% to 5.1%, amounting to 179.9 billion drams. In the structure of retail trade, stores (including supermarkets) provide the largest turnover - 76.4% or 137.5 billion drams (with an annual growth of 8%), other retail facilities - 14% or 25.2 billion drams (with annual growth of 2 , 7%), followed by consumer goods markets - 5.7% or 10.3 billion (with an annual decline of 14.5%), stalls and kiosks - 2.3% or 4 billion (with an annual decline of 14%) and agricultural markets - 1.6% or 2.8 billion (with an annual growth of 9.6%).
Retail trade dominates the structure of Armenia's total trade turnover - 50.1%, followed by wholesale trade - 45.8%, and car buying / sale - 4.1%.
The average calculated exchange rate of the dram to the US dollar in February 2018 was 481.37 AMD / $ 1, and in January-February - 481.88 AMD / $ 1, against 486.51 AMD / $ 1 in February 2017 and 486.26 other / $ 1 in January-February.