ArmInfo. In the trade sector of Armenia, the turnover in January-November 2018 to the same period of 2017 increased by 9.2% (against a growth of 14.4% a year earlier), reaching 2.6 trillion drams ($ 5.3 billion). According to the RA Statistics Committee, in November 2018 alone, trade turnover in Armenia decreased by 0.1% to 261.8 billion drams ($ 538.3 million).
The slowdown in the dynamics is due to the decrease in the rate of growth in the turnover of wholesale and retail trade, against the background of the accelerating ascent of the turnover in the car trade. In particular, wholesale trade in January-November 2018 showed a y-o-y growth of 17% - up to 1.231 trillion drams ($ 2.5 billion), against a 25.3% increase a year earlier. In the monthly terms, the wholesale trade turnover increased by 1.7% - to 126.4 billion drams. The volume of purchase / sale of cars in January-November 2018 accelerated growth from 17% to 19.5%, reaching 117.4 billion drams ($ 243.2 million). In November alone, the revenue of car trade increased by 11.4% - up to 13 billion drams.
According to statistical data, the turnover of retail trade in January-November 2018 amounted to 1.221 trillion drams ($ 2.5 billion), an increase of 1.4%, against 6.1% growth a year earlier. For the month, retail sales revenue amounted to 122.4 billion drams, which is 3% less than a year ago.
In the structure of retail trade, the largest turnover is provided by stores (including supermarkets) - 79.2% or 968 billion drams (with a y-o-y growth of 2.4%), other shopping facilities - 12.9% or 157 billion drams (with y-o-y decline of 0.3%), followed by consumer goods markets with a margin of 4.8% or 58 billion (with a y-o-y decline of 2.7%), stalls and kiosks - 2% or 24.8 billion (with a y-o-y decline of 1.4%) and agricultural markets - 1.1% or 14 billion (with a y-o-y decline of 22.8%).
In the structure of the total trade turnover of Armenia, wholesale trade dominates slightly over retail - 47.9% and 47.5% respectively, while only 4.6% accounted for the sale / purchase of cars. The average exchange rate of dram to the US dollar in November 2018 was 486.33 dr./$ 1, and in January- November - 482.83 dr./$ 1, against 485.36 dr./$ 1 in November 2017 and 482.67 dr ./$ 1 in January- November 2017